RBD
Well Known Member
You are correct.....there is a third....heaven forbid but finger tight.
I really don't know but since there is a human factor here, anything is possible....It's also a very good reason why we use a checklist and don't "cheat".
This recent thread about a critical nut coming loose reminded me that I wanted to ask you all if it is is common to use a maintenance or assembly checklist? Being new to airplane ownership, I'm not sure what is standard practice. As was mentioned in the other thread, it is not at all difficult to conceive that one could finger tighten a nut, and forget to torque or safety wire it before buttoning the plane back up or moving on another task.
Case in point (and the reason I say that the other thread reminded me to ask about this), is that I had my cowling off this past weekend to measure the dimensions for an air filter that I'm going to install for my alternate air. As I put the plane back together, I only inserted the hinge pins (vertical hinge attaching the sides of the lower cowl to the firewall) about 1 inch into the hinge to make sure I had everything lined up correctly. I then put the top cowl on and went home. This was on Saturday. Sunday night as I was laying in bed talking my wife, I politely interrupted her, got out of bed, and went and stuck my airplane keys in an envelope, sealed it, and wrote the following on the outside: "INSERT HINGE PINS ALL THE WAY, IDIOT!!!" I'm not exactly sure why this potentially hide-saving thought popped into my head during a completely non-related coversation, but I have a good idea where it came from.
After this experience, I will be coming up with checklists for different maintenance tasks and/or areas of the plane. Seems to me that if we use them in flight to prevent ourselves from forgetting the routine, there is no good reason to NOT use them during maintenance. If there is any existing documentation that I should be aware of, please let me know.
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