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Chat with a 20-year A&P guy made me rethink my whole avionics toolkit setup
I was swapping out a comm radio in a King Air 350 last Tuesday in Mesa and this old-timer A&P walked by and asked why I had 3 different screwdrivers out. He said 'son, you only need one good 1/4 inch and a lot of patience for the rest.' I laughed it off but then I spent 15 minutes fumbling with a tight panel screw and realized he was probably right. It hit me different because I've been adding random tools to my bag for years without thinking about what I actually use daily. Has anyone else had a senior tech break down their approach and make them feel overcomplicated?
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grant82626d ago
yo hold on wait... only one 1/4 inch screwdriver? thats wild man i gotta say i dont buy it at all. i mean maybe for 90 percent of the stuff but good luck getting a stubborn phillips out of some cramped avionics bay with just one size. the old timer probably has a whole drawer of specialty bits he just doesn't talk about cause he's been doing it so long he forgets what its like to not have all that muscle memory. still though i get the point about paring down your bag i just think he's oversimplifying it a little too much. maybe its just me but id rather have too many tools than be stuck on a job cause i left the right driver in the hangar.
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gray_roberts26d ago
Nah, I kinda see it the other way. Having one good driver that fits your hand and you know inside out beats digging through a drawer of bits every time you need to turn a screw. The old timer probably just got real good at making that one size work for everything he runs into. How many times have you grabbed the wrong bit on a job and wasted time swapping it out?
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