Has anyone had the joy of doing a complete re-wire of a Twin Otter or any other aircraft for that matter?
Pain in the ass or just a basic nightmare??
Wiring - DHC-6 Twin Otter
Moderators: North Shore, sky's the limit, sepia, Sulako
Doing such a job from scratch would be OK if you are only re creating/restoring the original system per factory drawings. You have a blueprint... carry on.
Are you talking about upgrades and mods ?? if you are rewiring to a different standard... surprisingly the thing you have to really worry about is functionality rather than paperwork. TC has no real standards for electrical /avionics stuff other than it be documented in some fashion (paste in vague info from the manufacturer/installation manual) whether or not the documentation is useful or not (to the AME/avionic individual) is irrelevant to the regulators (how it integrates with other systems and what really needs to be done to keep it usefull/flying safely) they will pretty much swallow any BS if typed nicely. I was involved in a return to commercial service of a transport category aircraft(Convair) from experimental status to commercial registration which involved demoding/removal of systems and restoration to civil C of A plus incorporation of AD's and installation of new Nav/Com/Rnav systems and various aircraft electrical systems upgrades and restoration to original (US Navy) Spec's. It's not as hard as it would apear, the people you are really there to please/deliver the goods for are 1- the poor fools flying the mighty machine (it must work and reliably)...and 2 your brother and sister AME's tryin to keep it serviceable when some lil bit of electrical mechanism fails in the future an they need to figure it out(please provide ref's and documentation /drawings..
If you are on the wet coast we should have a beer an talk/bs... sing out if so
Are you talking about upgrades and mods ?? if you are rewiring to a different standard... surprisingly the thing you have to really worry about is functionality rather than paperwork. TC has no real standards for electrical /avionics stuff other than it be documented in some fashion (paste in vague info from the manufacturer/installation manual) whether or not the documentation is useful or not (to the AME/avionic individual) is irrelevant to the regulators (how it integrates with other systems and what really needs to be done to keep it usefull/flying safely) they will pretty much swallow any BS if typed nicely. I was involved in a return to commercial service of a transport category aircraft(Convair) from experimental status to commercial registration which involved demoding/removal of systems and restoration to civil C of A plus incorporation of AD's and installation of new Nav/Com/Rnav systems and various aircraft electrical systems upgrades and restoration to original (US Navy) Spec's. It's not as hard as it would apear, the people you are really there to please/deliver the goods for are 1- the poor fools flying the mighty machine (it must work and reliably)...and 2 your brother and sister AME's tryin to keep it serviceable when some lil bit of electrical mechanism fails in the future an they need to figure it out(please provide ref's and documentation /drawings..
If you are on the wet coast we should have a beer an talk/bs... sing out if so
Re: Wiring - DHC-6 Twin Otter
I've done wings/fuel system/wing root cannons etc. But not the whole enchilada.dhc-t2 wrote:Has anyone had the joy of doing a complete re-wire of a Twin Otter or any other aircraft for that matter?
Pain in the ass or just a basic nightmare??
The major pita is the SB status and changes. First you need to know exactly what parts are going to be used and what status they are.
There are soo many changes you will go nuts.
Also the wiring diagrams are not great. You almost need to build the diagrams on a cad program prior to doing it.
I suggest looking at the PSM wiring manual for feel. Is it a 100,200 or 300?
The older ones have that plastic coated wires, so most of the numbers are gone, so it makes comparing to wiring diagrams difficult.
I saw a re-wired one at Borek a few years back. They did the whole thing from scratch. The wiring harness was tiny. Nice to say the least.
Don't be disgruntled....move on!
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Human Factor
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Twotter
No Viking did not rewire Max's Twin otter, I did. It was done in house with Max's own AMO.
I would happily do it again!
It is an easy airplane for access, and between the damage done from the accident and subsequent recovery, it was easier to rewire the whole plane than repair and splice.
Just used the original wiring diagrams, a few changes for things like wing disconnects, and the odd connector. But basically the same as it was.
I would happily do it again!
It is an easy airplane for access, and between the damage done from the accident and subsequent recovery, it was easier to rewire the whole plane than repair and splice.
Just used the original wiring diagrams, a few changes for things like wing disconnects, and the odd connector. But basically the same as it was.
