Rant: Almost torqued a prop flange wrong after watching a YouTube video

I was replacing a prop seal on a Lycoming O-320 last Tuesday up in Green Bay, and I caught myself about to use a beam torque wrench I saw some guy recommend online. He claimed it was more accurate for low range stuff, but I got to thinking about it while I was holding the thing. That beam wrench needs you to look straight on at the needle, but in that tight cowling space I was kneeling weird and couldn't get my eye line right. I would have been off by probably 10 foot-pounds easy if I didn't stop and swap for my clicker type. Now I just stick with the clicker for anything in the airframe, no matter what some random dude says on his channel. Has anyone else almost messed up a critical torque because you trusted a video over your own tool?

2 comments

2 Comments

lewis.troy15d ago

Spot on. This is why I don't trust YouTube for anything safety related, period.

umathompson15d ago

@lewis.troy has a good point about not trusting everything online. Read a study once that showed even the popular aviation channels get torque specs wrong about 15% of the time. Better to just use whatever tool you know works for you and ignore the hype.