HAI/COLTEN GONZALEZ-HILL DESIGN
WORK SAFE By Zac Noble
Do You Know Where Your Tools Are? Even one misplaced item can pose a serious hazard.
W
HEN DO YOU REALIZE YOU DON’T HAVE all your tools accounted for? Is it on the drive home, when you have that gut feel-
ing that something’s not right? Is it when the pilot or next mechanic finds it on a preflight or daily inspection? Let’s hope it’s not during an accident investigation. Routine tool and hardware accountability is one safe practice that seems like a no-brainer, but sometimes we become distracted and leave tools or other hardware on an aircraft.
Strict Accountability for Each Tool Aviation has come a long way in tool control over my years in the industry. In the early 1980s, I was a member of a helicopter squadron that implemented a program of tool control that mandated that the entire squadron would be grounded if even one tool wasn’t accounted for. Every tool used on an aircraft was signed out of the
tool room. Before that aircraft was released for flight, every tool signed out had to be logged back in. We all thought these measures were extreme. Sometimes we’d receive a phone call in the late-night hours that required a drive back to the hangar to return the socket or small tool that we’d forgotten about in our pocket and didn’t notice as we checked in our other tools. Over time, however, we learned the value of this best practice and the consequences of poor tool accountability. As has been said before, most, if not all, aviation reg- ulations or rules are written in blood. Poor tool control has been attributed to many aviation accidents over the decades. There’s a well-known story of Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis airplane having a pair of pliers in the airframe that seemingly was left during the building of the aircraft at Ryan Airlines or possibly used by
Visit
rotor.org/sos to view and download this and additional safety resources, including videos and posters.
JUNE 2022 ROTOR 69
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
