Ran into a retired tech at the air show who said something that stuck with me

I was at the Sun 'n Fun show in Lakeland last week and got talking to a guy who worked on F-4 Phantoms back in the 70s. He was looking at a modern glass cockpit display and said, 'We used to fix things with a meter, a manual, and a soldering iron. Now you kids just plug in a computer and hope it tells you.' It hit different because I realized I do exactly that, and I've never really had to trace a fault through a whole analog circuit by hand. Makes me wonder if we're losing some basic skills. Has anyone else had a moment like that, where you felt a gap between the old ways and the new tech?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_jake15d agoMost Upvoted

That old tech could swap a whole board too though.

matthewgonzalez15d ago

Yeah, but @the_jake, the board swap cost was crazy back then.