Hot take: I miss having to actually trace out circuits by hand

I was working on a Cessna 172 at the hangar in Tulsa last Tuesday, and the wiring diagram was all digital on a tablet. The thing kept glitching and freezing in the heat. Made me think back to when I started 12 years ago and we used paper schematics and a highlighter. Everyone loves these new all-in-one diagnostic tools, but they break or slow down at the worst times. I feel like we are losing the skill of actually reading a circuit and figuring out the path with our eyes. Do you guys ever worry that the new tech is making us lazy or is it just me?

3 comments

3 Comments

jasonallen1mo ago

Buddy of mine over in Springfield was redoing the avionics on a King Air last month. He had the service manual pulled up on a Toughbook but it took a crap on him halfway through the troubleshooting and he was stuck in a hangar trying to get a cell signal to reload the PDF. He ended up calling me to walk him through the circuit off memory because the paper manual was three years out of date and buried under a tool box.

susanb341mo ago

Wait, wait... he had to walk him through the circuit off memory?? Dude that's insane lmao. I would have been lost after the first two wires.

avery_flores171mo ago

Took a crap" on him... RIP that Toughbook.