Flammability for Aircraft Wiring

November 5, 2012 Michael Traskos

Among the multitude of new wire qualification tests is the wire flammability test for aircraft wiring. This article covers a test that is designed to assess a wire insulation’s ability to: 1) limit the burn length when exposed to a flame; 2) have no molten material drop from the sample; and 3) not ignite. Read more

Hazards of hot stamping for aircraft wiring

October 18, 2012 Michael Traskos

Hot stamping is a technique that has been used to identify wires for decades. However, this technique has been banned by the US military aerospace platforms or significantly discouraged by the FAA for a number of years. There are many reasons to understand stamping techniques for aircraft wiring. Two extreme examples of hot stamping gone […] Read more

Aircraft wiring: Polyimide wire life projection

September 25, 2012 Michael Traskos

Polyimide wire (commonly referred by the trade name, Kapton®), is the mustard colored kind of aircraft wiring that can be found in older civilian and commercial aircraft made before the 1995. Similarly to other wires, it degrades over time. However, unlike other common aircraft wire insulations, the damage that it causes through electrical arc tracking […] Read more

Lectromec Harness Derating Tool (HDT) tutorial for EWIS

September 22, 2012 Michael Traskos

As mentioned on the WireFacts blog, the Lectromec Harness Derating Tool (HDT) is now up and running. The HDT is designed to follow the guidance provided in AS50881 on how much electrical current should be in the wires for a given harness. If the guidance is not followed, the electrical current in a harness will […] Read more

Use of chafe protection for aircraft EWIS

May 2, 2012 Michael Traskos

When wire bundles are routed in high vibration zones or areas with repeated movement (e.g. landing gears), wire harnesses are regularly in contact with abrasive surfaces, which can cause damage to the wires. Over repeated use, the insulation on the wires may eventually chafe through and cause a wire failure. To protect these bundles, chafe […] Read more

Giving your aircraft EWIS a good cleaning

April 13, 2012 Michael Traskos

During standard aircraft maintenance, it occasionally becomes necessary to clean the wiring, remove FOD (foreign object debris), and/or clean equipment near wiring (which is just about everywhere on the aircraft). This process should be handled with care and attention to details. Cleaning should follow the manufacturer’s recommendations where applicable. Where no information is given on […] Read more

Visual inspection of electrical wiring for aircraft: A quick guide, Part III

April 9, 2012 Michael Traskos

This article is part of Lectromec’s visual inspection series discussion and focuses on the issues that need to be considered when inspecting splices in harnesses. Read more

Why not perform certification test on aged aircraft wire?

March 22, 2012 Michael Traskos

Before a wire is first brought onto an aircraft, it must first go through a series of tests that validate the quality of the finished wire. Most of these tests are conducted on new wires that have not been subjected to accelerated aging. This raises the question of whether subjecting an aged aircraft wire (one […] Read more

Visual inspection of electrical wiring for aircraft: A quick guide, Part II

March 15, 2012 Michael Traskos

This is intended as a quick guide for those performing visual inspection of electrical wiring for aerospace. There is more that needs to be considered than what is covered in this article, but hopefully this can be used as a starting point. Each of the items discussed will be addressed in greater detail during this […] Read more

Visual inspection of electrical wiring for aircraft: A quick guide, Part I

February 15, 2012 Michael Traskos

This is the first of a three-part series of articles that go through a complete visual inspection to examine all the parts of an aircraft’s electrical wire interconnection system (EWIS). Read more

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