Just read a report about the most common cause of avionics faults in small aircraft

I was looking through an NTSB safety brief from last year, and it said that for general aviation, over 40% of avionics-related squawks traced back to bad connectors and corrosion, not the black boxes themselves. That's a huge number. It really hit home after I spent a whole day last month chasing a ghost in a Cessna 172's comm system, only to find green fuzz in a D-sub behind the panel. Makes you think twice before you start swapping out whole units. How often do you guys make connector inspection and cleaning a first step in your fault finding?

2 comments

2 Comments

hannaht2920h ago

Yeah, saw a similar thing in a flying club newsletter. They said a can of contact cleaner and a careful look saves so much time and money. It's wild how often it's just a dirty pin.

black.beth17h ago

Oh, that's a great tip. I'd just add that you need to make sure it's the right kind of cleaner for plastic parts too.