Three years ago I watched a senior A&P refuse to use a torque wrench on a cylinder hold-down. Wild.

Back in 2020 at a small MRO outside Tulsa, I saw this old-timer with 30 years experience just snug down cylinder base nuts by feel on a Lycoming. I was fresh out of school and called him out on it. He laughed and said 'son, I've done this since before you were born and never had one come loose.' I walked straight to the lead inspector and reported it. The lead made him re-do all 12 nuts with a proper torque wrench. Three of them came out over spec by 15 ft-lbs. The old dude was PISSED but he never skipped the wrench again after that. Has anyone else dealt with mechanics who think feel is good enough on critical fasteners?

3 comments

3 Comments

wren23014d ago

Feel and experience matter too" - yeah I used to think that, but that A&P story changed my mind.

nina_taylor14d ago

Respectfully, feel and experience matter too, not just the book spec.

fiona_hunt7114d ago

Went to a book club meetup last week and @nina_taylor nailed it - we spent half the time arguing about how a passage made us feel instead of what it actually said on the page. Sometimes the vibe just hits different than the literal words.