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Guy in the hangar next to ours said he torques by feel on gear bolts, and I keep thinking about it
I was grabbing a coffee last Tuesday at the FBO in Spokane and overheard a mech from another shop say he hasn't pulled out a torque wrench on landing gear bolts in 3 years because he can feel when it's right. Our shop does everything by the book, AMM specs and calibrated wrenches logged every 90 days, so hearing that kind of made my stomach drop. I get that experience counts for something, but gear bolts are not the place to trust your wrist. Am I out of line for thinking this should get flagged somehow, or do a lot of shops actually run like this?
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sethmartinez19d ago
I once snapped a bolt on a wheel pant thinking my wrist was calibrated, so I am the LAST guy who should be throwing stones. But a wheel pant is not a landing gear bolt. Those things hold your whole plane up and one wrong squeeze can cost you the gear or worse. Torque by feel works until it does not, and when it does not on gear bolts you are not talking about a loose fairing anymore, you are talking about a crash. That guy might be the best wrench in Spokane but I would still want a calibrated tool and a log entry on anything holding the airplane off the ground. If your shop runs by the book, keep it that way and do not let the hangar talk get in your head.
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