An aircraft pylon is used to mount external equipment such as a weapon, reconnaissance pod, or external fuel tank. Figure 1 shows a pylon attached to an F-15 fighter aircraft and Figure 2 shows a close up of an F-16 Centerline Pylon.
Figure 1 – Pylon on an F-15 Aircraft
Figure 2 – Centerline Pylon on and F-16 Aircraft
In order to have electrical signals between an aircraft, the pylon, and the piece of equipment mounted to the pylon, there must be wiring. In most cases there is a lot of wiring that takes the form of a wiring harness. Most of the wiring harnesses inside an aircraft are protected by the structure of the aircraft. Therefore these wiring harnesses are not exposed to the environment. The same cannot be said of the wiring harnesses inside a pylon. Below shows what a pylon looks like when it is not attached to an aircraft.
Figure 3 – Sample Pylon
In many cases the connectors and wiring of pylon wiring harnesses are exposed to the environment. Additionally, many pylons are stored outside instead of inside an aircraft’s hanger. Because they are stored outside, the pylon wiring harnesses are subjected to rain, snow, ice, heat, and dust. After a lot of exposure to these environmental issues, the connectors and wiring become old and can lead to intermittent problems include arcing and possible fires. Even if pylons are stored inside a hanger when they are not being used, they are still subjected to many of the same environmental factors while they are attached to an aircraft. For this reason, pylon wiring harnesses should periodically be replaced.
InterConnect Wiring has been making F-16 pylon wiring harnesses now for 25 years. In fact, besides the wing leading edge wiring harnesses, InterConnect produces more replacement F-16 pylon wiring harnesses than any other F-16 wiring harness. F-16 pylon wiring harness part numbers are in the “900s” series. Some typical F-16 pylon wiring harnesses are H16DW901-06, H16DW905-03, H16DW910-25, H16DW912-05, and H16DW916-01. For replacement pylon wiring harnesses please let us know.
For a related article, please read our blog about the large wiring harness H16DW2602 that connects to the centerline pylon.
