Faulty relay on a 737 cost me a whole Saturday shift

Last month we had a 737 come in with intermittent flap indication errors. Took me two hours just to pin it down to a bad proximity sensor relay in the wheel well. Replacement part was supposed to be in stock but it wasn't, so I had to cannibalize one from a retired bird out back. Swapped it, ran the full functional test, everything checked out. Then the next morning the captain called saying the same fault popped up again. Turned out the relay I pulled had a cracked solder joint that only showed under vibration. Ended up ordering two new relays from a supplier in Denver and redoing the whole job on Saturday. My crew chief just laughed and said, 'That's why we test twice, not once.' Has anyone else had a spare part from a scrapped frame bite you like that?

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briancampbell25d ago

Heard a similar story from a guy at Delta. Scrapped parts are always a gamble.