Rant: A night shift in Anchorage made me stop trusting the book for everything

I was working a heavy check on a 737 in Alaska, and the book said to torque a certain engine mount bolt to 450 inch-pounds. It was 20 below outside, the hangar was cold, and my wrench just felt wrong. I checked with a second gauge and it was reading way high because of the temp. If I'd followed the manual to the letter, I would have over-torqued it. Now I always double-check my tools against the conditions, not just the numbers on the page. Anyone else run into problems where the book specs don't match the real world environment?

3 comments

3 Comments

jakef661mo ago

Honestly, that's just how it is with any set of rules. You see it with recipes too, the oven temp is never right and you gotta watch the food, not the clock.

patel.alice1mo ago

Actually, oven temps are usually pretty spot on if you have a decent oven. The real trick is learning how your own oven runs.

willow67216d agoTop Commenter

Oh have you tried an oven thermometer? Like one of those cheap metal ones you hang on the rack. I thought my oven was fine until I put one in and realized it runs 25 degrees hot. Now I just adjust the temp before I even start preheating and it saves a lot of burned cookies.