Just watched a guy at my hangar try to torque a D-sub connector with a 3/8 drive ratchet. Heard the crunch from across the room.

It was a 15-pin connector for a nav system. The spec sheet says 15 inch-pounds, max. He had a foot-long breaker bar on it. Now we're waiting on a $2k LRU because the backshell cracked the board. How is this not basic? Do they not teach hand feel anymore? What's the dumbest connector kill you've seen?

3 comments

3 Comments

jamie79426d ago

Honestly, I used to think specs were just suggestions until I saw a guy strip a cannon plug with channel locks.

-1

schmidt.grace26d ago

Feel that pain... saw someone try to "adjust" a torque wrench with a hammer once. The sound of those gears giving up still haunts me. Some people just have no respect for tools or the instructions that come with them.

milacarr14d ago

Okay but to be fair, sometimes those cannon plug specs are a little optimistic. I've had a few where the official tool just wouldn't fit in the space they gave you, you had to get creative with a different wrench. Still, channel locks is just asking for rounded corners.