c/aircraft-mechanics

That engine shop in Tucson changed my mind about cylinder repairs

I always thought honing cylinders in-house was fine, but after watching their process with that Sunnen machine and seeing how clean the crosshatch came out, I realized I was cutting corners. Anyone else ever get humbled by a shop tour?

Am I the only one who had a fuel nozzle pop off on a 737 at the gate?

Happened to me last Saturday morning at LAX, working a quick turn on a 737-800. I was hooked up and mid-fueling when the damn nozzle just popped right off the adapter. Fuel sprayed everywhere for a solid 5 seconds before I hit the emergency shutoff. I probably looked like a fool sprinting around the wing to cut the flow. Ended up calling for a hazmat crew and had to redo all the paperwork on a Sunday shift. Has anyone else had a nozzle fail like that or was mine just cursed?

Vent: Hit 10,000 flight hours this week and nobody cared but me

Logged my 10,000th hour on a Cessna 172 overhaul job Wednesday. That's like 14 months straight in the air on the ground fixing these things. But when I mentioned it to the crew at the hangar, everyone just shrugged and went back to their coffee. Kinda stings when you realize nobody outside this trade gets what that number actually means. How many hours you guys got logged before you stopped counting?

I finally learned what a torque wrench extension does to readings

Was working on a 737 flap track at Hartsfield-Jackson last Friday and an old-timer saw me using a crows foot on my torque wrench. He said I was messing up my numbers by not accounting for the offset distance. Did the math with his formula and I was overtorquing by almost 10 ft-lbs on a 150 in-lb job. Has anyone else been doing this wrong for years without realizing it?

Found a faster way to chase down electrical gremlins on CRJ-700s without pulling the whole panel

Spent 3 months chasing intermittent faults until I started using a tone generator and inductive probe on the harness instead of backprobing pins. Has anyone else tried this trick for tracking down chafed wires in the wheel well area?

Hot take: Sometimes having too much experience makes you miss the obvious fix

I spent 4 hours chasing a fuel leak on a Cessna 172 last Tuesday. Turned out it was just a loose clamp that I had checked first but dismissed because it looked fine. Anyone else ever overthink a simple problem because you were convinced it had to be something harder?

Had to re-learn how to torque bolts after 8 years on the line

I was working on a Cessna 172 down at KAPA last Tuesday, and the senior inspector noticed I was using a ratchet to break loose bolts instead of a torque wrench for final tightening. He pulled up a Lycoming service bulletin that showed I had been over-torquing cylinder hold-downs by about 15 foot-pounds for years. The tip off was when he showed me the stretch marks on an old head bolt I had messed up. Has anyone else had a basic habit like that completely flipped by an old timer?

That Tuesday last month when my engine finally ran smooth

I had been fighting a rough-running Lycoming O-320 for three weeks, chasing a stumble that would pop up around 2200 RPM. Swapped mags, changed plugs, cleaned injectors, nothing fixed it. Then a senior guy named Pete walked over and said check the fuel servo screen, not the main filter. I pulled that little screen and found it half clogged with some kind of tan gunk I still can't identify. After cleaning it and doing a ground run, the engine purred like a kitten at every power setting. Has anyone else run into a weird partial blockage that drove you nuts before finding it in a spot you almost overlooked?

Overheard a Delta line mechanic say something that stuck with me

Was getting coffee at ATL last Tuesday and heard a guy say he never trusts torque wrenches that got dropped. Said he saw a 1/4 inch drive snap a bolt on a 737 flap track because of internal damage you can't see. How do you guys handle tool drops on the line - send them out immediately or keep using them if they look okay?

Picked up a tip from an old Delta mechanic about safety wire twisting

I was hanging out at the break room at the hangar in Atlanta yesterday and this retired Delta guy, probably 70 years old, was telling stories. He mentioned how he always twists safety wire just one extra turn past what feels right, especially on critical engine components. Said he learned that after a Pratt & Whitney engine had a bolt back out during a test run back in '89. That stuck with me because I usually go by feel and stop when it looks tight. Tried it on a cowling latch this morning and honestly the extra turn made the wire sit way more snug. Has anyone else heard a tip like that from an old timer that actually made a difference in their daily work?

Was dead wrong about torque wrenches for smaller bolts until a crack in a flap track proved it

Spent 8 years thinking I could just feel it on bolts under 15 ft-lbs. Been doing it that way since my A&P days. Then last month on a CRJ700 in Denver, I got called out for a flap track bolt that had a hairline crack in the lug. Lead mechanic asked me what I torqued that little one to. I said 'felt right.' He pulled out his Snap-on digital torque wrench and showed me I was 4 ft-lbs over. That crack was from years of me and probably other guys doing the same thing. Now I use a beam style for anything under 20 ft-lbs and I actually check the table. Has anyone else caught themselves guessing on small hardware and gotten away with it?

Chasing a fuel leak on a 737 for 8 hours then finding it was just a loose clamp

I spent a whole shift tracking down a slow drip from the fuel manifold, swapped seals and everything, only to find a clamp that was barely a quarter turn loose. Is it better to methodically check the simple stuff first or just dive into the hard work right away?

Why I stopped chasing the factory torque specs on every single bolt

I work on old Cessnas mostly, and everyone told me you gotta follow the manual to the letter. But after stripping a third control cable bracket on a 172 last spring, I tried something different. I started using a beam-style torque wrench set to the low end of the spec, not my fancy clicker that's always off by 5 ft-lbs. Has anyone else found that the factory numbers are just not right for 30-year-old hardware?

Swapped my 15-year-old torque wrench for a digital one and instantly regretted it

Picked the digital model for the beeps and lights, but the old beam type was way faster for doing spark plugs on a Cessna 172 last Tuesday - has anyone else gone back to analog after trying digital?

Finally got my torque wrench calibration spot on after 3 years of guessing

Old timer at the hangar told me to skip torque seals on filter housings

Been doing it for years with no issues until a safety audit flagged me last Tuesday for missing seals on three engines. Anybody else ever get called out for skipping something that seemed harmless?

I finally compared a torque wrench vs a beam style on the same job

I used a beam style for years on Cessna tail bolts and always thought it was good enough. Last month I borrowed a digital torque wrench and found I was under-torquing by 15 lb-ft on almost every bolt. Has anyone else switched and seen a big difference?

Pro tip: Stop over-torquing spark plugs on Lycomings

I spent 3 years cringing every time I pulled a plug on a TCM 470 because the threads looked gnarly. Figured it was just old engines being old. Then I watched a senior A&P at my shop in Phoenix grab a torque wrench and set it to 300 inch-pounds on an O-360. He told me I was cranking them down like lug nuts on a Dodge. Now I check my torque wrench calibration every 90 days and my plugs come out clean. Anyone else get told they were way too heavy handed when they started?

Had a 20 minute chat with a retired AA mechanic about torque wrenches

Was pulling a shift at the hangar in Tulsa last Tuesday when this old guy walks in looking for the break room. Turns out he worked for American Airlines from 1978 to 2005. He saw me using my click-style torque wrench on some engine mounts and just started shaking his head. Said he only ever used beam-style wrenches for 27 years because click-types lose calibration after 5,000 cycles according to his old lead. I checked my logbook later and mine had 4,800 cycles on it. Has anyone else run into old timers who swear by beam wrenches over the digital ones?

Old timer told me to stop using safety wire pliers for lockwire on engine work

I mean, I always thought the pliers were fine, but this guy with 30 years at Pratt said hand twisting gives better feel for tension and less chance of nicking the bolt heads. Tried it for a week and now my lockwire looks way cleaner. Anyone else get told to ditch a tool and stick with the old way?

Remember when hangars had actual tool rooms?

I was working a 1997 Cessna 172 last Wednesday. Needed a 9/16 ratcheting wrench. Walked to the tool room like always. Found a padlock on the door. Manager said they switched to a shadow board system to save money. Spent 40 minutes hunting for my own 9/16. Never even found one. Had to borrow from the kid on B shift. Has anyone else's shop gone cheap on you like that?

Blew out a piston on a 172 because I kept skipping the torque seal check

Had a Lycoming come apart on me six years ago at a small shop in Topeka. Turned out I was just getting lazy and not double-checking my torque values on the prop flange. Anyone else learn a hard lesson because you got too comfortable with a routine task?

I finally got why the old-timers hate digital torque wrenches

Spoke with a guy who's been wrenching since the 70s at the hangar in Tampa last Tuesday. He said digital stuff makes you forget the feel of metal and that cost me a stripped bolt on a flap actuator.

I finally stopped using anti-seize on spark plugs

Been doing it for 10 years because the old timers swore by it, but after a cylinder miss on a Continental IO-470 at my shop in Tulsa last month, the lead mechanic showed me how it messes with the torque readings. We pulled three plugs and the threads were fine without the stuff anyway. Anyone else ditch anti-seize on plugs or am I the only one changing things up?

Can we talk about torque wrench calibration?

I've been using the same Snap-On torque wrench for 7 years in the hangar and never thought twice about it until last week when a senior mechanic checked it against his calibrated one and I was off by 8 ft-lbs on a 90 ft-lbs setting. Now I'm wondering if half the bolts I've torqued on engine mounts have been wrong this whole time. How often do you guys actually send your torque wrenches out for calibration?