Hit 500 circuit board repairs this month and it got me thinking

Ngl I was just checking my logbook last week and realized I've crossed 500 board-level repairs since I started in avionics. That number surprised me because I remember struggling with my first few multilayer boards back in 2019. Most of the work has been on old King radios and Garmin GNS units for GA planes. But about 30% of those repairs were just bad solder joints from factory work that I could fix in under 10 minutes. Has anyone else tracked their repair count and noticed a pattern like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

finleyf881mo ago

Wait are those Garmin units actually factory reflow issues though? I thought most of the cold joint problems on GNS units came from vibration cracking over time, not from the factory skimping on heat.

the_morgan1mo ago

Nope, they're factory defects. Pure and simple.

sullivan.finley1mo ago

Man, that count sounds about right once you break it down. I've seen the same thing with those Garmin units where the factory reflow just doesn't hold up over time, it's almost like a shortcut they took that comes back to bite everyone later. You gotta wonder if those quick fixes are even worth logging as repairs or if they're just part of the job you factor in. Either way, hitting 500 is a solid milestone, especially if most of your early work was on those tricky multilayer boards that make you want to pull your hair out. Sticking with it obviously pays off.