Had a lead mechanic tear apart my safety wire technique back in 2012

I was working on a Cessna 172 at a small shop near Phoenix and this old guy watched me wire a prop and said 'looks like a drunk spider did that'. He made me redo it 4 times until the twists were perfectly tight and even. Has anyone else had a senior mechanic call them out on something basic early in their career?

2 comments

2 Comments

dakotacraig2d ago

Wait, are you sure the drunk spider wasn't actually a better craftsman than you? That's a rough burn though, I had a guy tell me my safety wire looked like "a tangled Slinky on a bad hair day." He made me redo it 5 times before he'd sign off on it, and he kept muttering about "tension being for guitar strings, not aircraft." Looking back, it's almost funny how hard those old dudes would roast you over something that takes 30 seconds to fix. Did he at least buy you a cold one after the 4th redo?

barbaraw162d ago

Did that old guy happen to be missing a few fingers? That's a rite of passage, getting roasted on safety wire. I had a lead at my first job on King Airs who made me redo a cowling latch because the pigtail was angled wrong, said it "looked like a broken tooth". That kind of tough love is rough in the moment but honestly it sticks with you, I still think about it every time I pick up a pair of pliers.