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Thought torque seal was just shop theater until the 172 flap bracket let go at 400 hours
I used to skip the torque seal on anything I could reach with a mirror and a flashlight. Figured it was something the old guys did to look busy. Last month a 172 came in for its 400 hour and the right flap bracket bolts were backing out. Not loose enough to feel by hand, but the paint was cracked and walking. I had signed that panel off myself 8 months prior. Now I hit everything with the yellow stuff, even the stuff that's a pain to get to. Anybody got a color system they actually stick to, or do you just grab whatever's on the cart?
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coleman.seth15d ago
We run a three color setup at my shop: yellow for engine mount and flight control hardware, orange for anything that sees heat cycles, and white on the airframe stuff nobody ever touches. The color doesn't matter near as much as doing it the same way every time, because the real value is that you can glance at a bolt and know right away if it moved. Takes you two seconds with a mirror versus pulling a panel to check torque, so the guys stopped fighting me on it once the 172 thing got around.
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