Wiring Matters: An Overview of the Aircraft Wiring Issue

Air Safety Week, June 19, 2000

Other potential improvements are numerous. Heavier insulation could be made an available option during manufacture. High power and low power wires could be better segregated. Connectors could be better separated, too, and not all bunched together so that an electrical arc can jump from one to another. Longer-life circuit breakers could be installed as original equipment, saving considerable money over the long haul. Fire detection and suppression in the electronics and equipment (E&E) bay, and other unprotected areas where electrical systems are concentrated, could be insisted upon. The reduced maintenance costs, higher dispatch reliability, and fewer precautionary landings would, over the life of the airplane, more than offset the purchase cost of such features and protections.

For the existing fleet, a program of wire husbandry would pay similar dividends. The U.S. Navy implemented a proactive program of wire stewardship, saving money and improving aircraft mission capable rate notably (the "dispatch reliability" in civilian parlance). In other words, prevention pays, not to mention the corollary benefit of raising the safety bar.