Avionics News October 2012 - 71

Whether you are an avionics technician, maintenance technician, pilot, owner or line crew, system knowledge is important. The systems you must know may differ somewhat. Depending on your position, the required detail may differ. But, in all cases, system knowledge is important.

have often heard students make the following rationalization after running into difficulty: “Tom, I’ll never be fixing a stabilized master oscillator.” The system the student claims they will never be fixing could be nearly anything. Basically, they are right. The days are nearly over for the component-level technician that is equipped with diddle sticks and soldering irons. Often, calibrations are as simple as accessing the service screen and pressing the auto calibration button. While the students are right about what they may be doing in the field, they are wrong to use it as justification for not learning the system. Like the card trick, system knowledge allows us to ask the right questions or conduct the right tests to determine the true cause and location of a problem. Sticking with the stabilized master oscillator theme, we know a few tests can distinguish a synthesizer problem from a control head problem or a wiring problem. The alternative is for a technician to replace components, more or less at random, until by chance, he or she happens to replace the correct device. The random replacement method of troubleshooting is time consuming, costly and possibly damaging to other boxes. Keep in mind, random box

replacement is not the same as the shotgun approach. When time is of concern, the shotgun approach saves. The technician can pull out the shot gun after asking some questions, running tests and isolating the possibilities to a few components. Without system

knowledge, the shotgun approach can backfire and become quite costly. The first situation that comes to mind is a bad wiring harness, which causes a secondary problem in an avionics
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Avionics News October 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News October 2012

Point of Communication
AEA Now
The View From Washington
International News and Regulatory Updates
Lightning Detection & Datalink
Member Profile
Cockpit Innovations
Member Profile
A Conversation With...
Understanding Autopilot Upgrades
Before & After
Member Profile
Pro-to-col
Business Basics
Theory & Practice
What's New
Marketplace Classifieds
Avionics News October 2012 - Intro
Avionics News October 2012 - Cover1
Avionics News October 2012 - Cover2
Avionics News October 2012 - 1
Avionics News October 2012 - 2
Avionics News October 2012 - 3
Avionics News October 2012 - Point of Communication
Avionics News October 2012 - 5
Avionics News October 2012 - AEA Now
Avionics News October 2012 - 7
Avionics News October 2012 - 8
Avionics News October 2012 - 9
Avionics News October 2012 - 10
Avionics News October 2012 - 11
Avionics News October 2012 - 12
Avionics News October 2012 - 13
Avionics News October 2012 - The View From Washington
Avionics News October 2012 - 15
Avionics News October 2012 - International News and Regulatory Updates
Avionics News October 2012 - 17
Avionics News October 2012 - 18
Avionics News October 2012 - 19
Avionics News October 2012 - Lightning Detection & Datalink
Avionics News October 2012 - 21
Avionics News October 2012 - 22
Avionics News October 2012 - 23
Avionics News October 2012 - 24
Avionics News October 2012 - 25
Avionics News October 2012 - 26
Avionics News October 2012 - 27
Avionics News October 2012 - Member Profile
Avionics News October 2012 - 29
Avionics News October 2012 - 30
Avionics News October 2012 - 31
Avionics News October 2012 - Cockpit Innovations
Avionics News October 2012 - 33
Avionics News October 2012 - 34
Avionics News October 2012 - 35
Avionics News October 2012 - 36
Avionics News October 2012 - 37
Avionics News October 2012 - 38
Avionics News October 2012 - 39
Avionics News October 2012 - Member Profile
Avionics News October 2012 - 41
Avionics News October 2012 - 42
Avionics News October 2012 - 43
Avionics News October 2012 - A Conversation With...
Avionics News October 2012 - 45
Avionics News October 2012 - Understanding Autopilot Upgrades
Avionics News October 2012 - 47
Avionics News October 2012 - 48
Avionics News October 2012 - 49
Avionics News October 2012 - 50
Avionics News October 2012 - 51
Avionics News October 2012 - 52
Avionics News October 2012 - 53
Avionics News October 2012 - 54
Avionics News October 2012 - 55
Avionics News October 2012 - Before & After
Avionics News October 2012 - 57
Avionics News October 2012 - Member Profile
Avionics News October 2012 - 59
Avionics News October 2012 - 60
Avionics News October 2012 - 61
Avionics News October 2012 - Pro-to-col
Avionics News October 2012 - 63
Avionics News October 2012 - 64
Avionics News October 2012 - 65
Avionics News October 2012 - Business Basics
Avionics News October 2012 - 67
Avionics News October 2012 - 68
Avionics News October 2012 - 69
Avionics News October 2012 - Theory & Practice
Avionics News October 2012 - 71
Avionics News October 2012 - 72
Avionics News October 2012 - 73
Avionics News October 2012 - What's New
Avionics News October 2012 - 75
Avionics News October 2012 - 76
Avionics News October 2012 - 77
Avionics News October 2012 - Marketplace Classifieds
Avionics News October 2012 - 79
Avionics News October 2012 - 80
Avionics News October 2012 - Cover3
Avionics News October 2012 - Cover4
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