Avionics News April 2015 - 36

TROUBLESHOOTING TIPS

Continued from page 34

step that too many technicians don't
want to take.
"We call the manufacturer a lot,"
Fryar said. "Most times, they've seen
these types of issues before. But there
are times when the unit is relatively new
in the field that even the technical experts are unfamiliar with an issue. Then
we just try to work it out together."
"Remember the technical representatives are paid to sit at their computers and answer your questions," Smith
added. "A lot of technicians want to
figure out every problem themselves -
they really like the challenge. The trouble is that not many customers want to
pay for your time to do that.
"There are times you just don't know
what you don't know, so it's better to
call the tech support experts early, espe-

cially if you think it's a software problem. The solution may be as simple as
updating the unit to the latest version.
"Always, remember that the faster
you can find and fix a problem, the
lower the cost to the customer. That
makes the customer happy, and a happy
customer is much more likely to come
back to your shop again."

Training days

Another troubleshooting tip mentioned was the constant need for training
in today's systems.
"A lot of things we see today just
weren't available when we went to
school," Ochs said. "Internet connectivity, satellites, cabin wireless systems
- it's all fantastic stuff, but obviously
we need to be trained on how to properly install, maintain and troubleshoot
the components.
"Whether it's as simple as reading the

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manufacturer's tech manuals, or attending
OEM or AEA-sponsored training, there's
no better tool in your troubleshooting kit
than good training. The more, the better."

Better troubleshooting through
better communications

Scott McKenzie, avionics/instruments
technical representative for Duncan Aviation in Lincoln, Nebraska, said the one issue his company sees in the repair shop is
a tendency for a squawk to "evolve" from
the time it leaves the aircraft until it reaches
Duncan's bench techs.
"It seems by the time a squawk gets to
our shop, it's been written up by two or
three different people," McKenzie said.
"So it often gets changed from what the
flight crew first saw. It often comes in with
a squawk tag saying 'INOP' and nothing
else. So where do we start?
"When that happens, we call to see if we
can talk to the flight crew that first wrote
the squawk. We want to find out what was
happening with the unit in the first place, so
we can better understand the problem we
are looking for."

Show me the problem

McKenzie also said his company often
asks flight crews to shoot video of the problem when it happens.
"Everyone has a smartphone with a video camera, so we ask them to shoot video
so we can see what they're seeing," he said.
"It's really helpful with radar and autopilot
troubleshooting - anything with a display.
For the autopilot, we ask for video of the
flight director and vertical gyro. It's not going to fully diagnose a problem, but it can
definitely lead us down the right path."
He also said that his group is now doing real-time troubleshooting with pilots in
flight.
"So many larger cabin aircraft now have
Wi-Fi, and we get the crew to shoot video
and email it to us at altitude," McKenzie
said. "Then 20 or so minutes later, they call
us and we can discuss possible solutions
even before they land. It's new, but it's an
exciting capability."
Continued on page 38

avionics news

april

2015

http://www.navaidsltd.net

Avionics News April 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News April 2015