Watching Wires

A new FAA rule will require airlines to develop maintenance and inspection tasks to identify, correct, and prevent wiring conditions that introduce risk to continued safe flight.

As happens when the FAA issues new guidelines for aircraft hardware and installations, the agency's Part 25 regulations governing electronic wiring interconnections systems are driving a need for more and better test equipment to detect faults and troubleshoot. The purpose of the FAA rule is to prevent wire arcing for cockpit and cabin systems such as in-flight entertainment that can lead to fires and smoke, and even bring down an aircraft as it did with TWA Flight 800 and Swissair Flight 111 in the late 1990s.

“There are two in-flight smoke incidences per day in the world, and one of those is caused by wiring,” said Steve Falteisek, Application Development Engineer with 3M Aerospace. “Wiring is a system and architecture that's been under-loved…people step on wire bundles, use them as handholds. Routine testing of wiring isn't done. So it's an area that's lacked direction and instruction.”