A specific torque wrench check saved me from a repeat write-up

Got a repeat squawk for a loose fairing on a King Air 200 last month. The first time, I torqued it to spec with my old wrench. After the second one, I checked my wrench against a calibrated one and found it was off by about 8 inch-pounds. Now I check my personal tools against the shop standard every 90 days. Anyone else have a set interval for tool calibration they stick to?

3 comments

3 Comments

granta121mo ago

Good call on that regular check. Had a similar scare with a tire lug nut torque being off. Now I mark my calendar for a quarterly tool check too, just for peace of mind.

baker.ruby1mo ago

What kind of torque wrench do you use? I learned the hard way that the cheap click types can lose calibration fast. I keep a logbook now with the date and reading from my beam style wrench before each big job.

barbaraschmidt21d ago

Honestly, my old torque wrench was probably off enough to build its own plane. I only caught it after a wheel almost came off during a taxi test. Now my tools get checked more often than my oil.