Brief Description: Finished stick grip wiring to terminal blocks.
Today was the final assault on the stick grip wiring. By now we had the process down to a science. I crimped sockets on the connector wires that we had previously cut to run under the seats while Charlotte cut out wire labels and heat shrink. Just as I finished the sockets she finished the labels. They were applied to each end of the wires and then each socket was locked into right half of the connector. I crawled into the fuselage and ran the wires through the snap bushings under the seats to the terminal blocks. Each wire had to have a terminal crimped on which was accomplished over the canopy rail with the fuselage rotated. The wires were attached to the faston tabs on the terminal blocks and then all of a sudden we were finished wiring the stick grips.
Charlotte got the honors of acuating the switches as I tested for the continuity check. Everything checked out OK! We then organized the wires by wrapping spiral wrap around them and then securing the bundles to the ribs with zip ties through pop-riveted plastic mounts.
Think twice about buying Infinity grips. Since I had already purchased them, I wired them to make all the grip switches functional, but it's a complicated job. It was especially complicated to integrate the TCW Technologies Safety-Trim and Flap Controller. I had to spend about a week just to draw a schematic to work from, but it was time well spent. I would have been lost without the schematic!!
Running wires under the seats from the pilot's stick to the terminal blocks under the copilot's seat.
View of the pilot's connector and wires passing under the seat and across the tunnel.
All connections made and the bundles secured to the ribs with zip ties.
