TIL a 25-year vet in Orlando told me to check the ground strap first on a finicky GPS unit. I laughed it off.

I was troubleshooting a Garmin GTN 750 that kept losing signal on a Cessna 172. Spent like 3 hours digging through wiring diagrams and swapping antennas. Old guy named Frank walks by and says "check the ground strap on the firewall, kid." I rolled my eyes but did it anyway, and it was loose by a quarter turn. Tightened it up and the thing worked perfect. Now I check grounds before anything else lol. Has anyone else been humbled by a simple fix after overcomplicating things?

2 comments

2 Comments

rose_hart1mo ago

Ngl, I see it the other way. That old guy Frank earned his 25 years because he's seen every stupid failure mode twice. The ground strap is obvious to him not because he's lazy but because he's smart enough to start with the stuff that fails most often. You spent 3 hours chasing ghosts and he saved your butt with a quarter turn. That's not humbling, that's learning from someone who already paid the tuition.

the_evan1mo ago

Made me think of my uncle who could fix any tractor blindfolded because he already broke it once.