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I ran my A&P practical like a checklist robot for 3 years, then a 30 year guy in Amarillo showed me why that's backwards
For my first three years on the floor I treated every job like a written test. I'd pull the manual, read the steps in order, and follow them word for word even when my gut said something looked off. Then a couple weeks ago I was on a wing flap rigging job with a guy named Dale who has been turning wrenches since before I was born. We were 20 minutes in when he stopped me and said, "Kid, read the whole task first, then picture the plane before you touch a bolt." Turns out I had been adjusting one linkage the manual listed early, but doing it that way made the next two steps twice as hard. He had me back off, look at how the whole system moved together, and then start at the end of the sequence working backward. Job took 40 minutes shorter than my usual and the rigging lined up dead on the first check. Now I read the entire procedure and trace the system in my head before I pick up a single tool. Any of you older hands learn this the hard way too, or did someone sit you down early like Dale did with me?
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