Hit 500 engine swaps last month and it got me thinking about shortcuts vs standards

I just crossed 500 engine swaps on regional jets, mostly CRJs and ERJs. It surprised me because I never kept count until a guy in the hangar mentioned his number. Half of those jobs I followed the manual to the letter, torque specs and all. The other half I took shortcuts that saved time but probably aren't sustainable long term. My question is do you stick to the book even when it adds 2 hours, or do you cut corners based on experience? Has anyone else hit a milestone that made them rethink their approach?

3 comments

3 Comments

cora81321h ago

Wow shortcuts always bite me later just stick with the manual.

jessica33120h ago

Learned that lesson the hard way myself sadly.

brian_hart16h ago

Read something similar on a woodworking forum the other day. A guy spent hours building a jig for a cut he could have done freehand in ten minutes. Just goes to show, sometimes we overthink things or look for shortcuts that just end up making more work.