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Why does nobody talk about how many times you actually turn a wrench in a day?
Ngl, I finally started counting last month just out of curiosity. On a normal shift doing line maintenance, I averaged 47 separate times I actually picked up a tool. That number surprised me because I thought it'd be way higher like over a hundred or something. But when you factor in paperwork, waiting for parts, and just walking around the hangar, the actual wrench time is lower than you'd think. It made me realize how much of our day is just logistics and not the actual mechanical work. Has anyone else ever tracked something like that and been surprised by the number?
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kaigibson14d ago
Respectfully, I counted 83 turns on a busy day, so maybe it just depends on the shift.
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owens.anthony14d ago
Dude yeah, that's a huge swing! I had the same thing happen when I switched from days to nights. On days I was lucky to hit 50 turns, but nights I'd easily crank out 70 or 80 because there's way less interruptions from management and parts runners. What finally helped me was keeping a little tally counter on my belt loop for a week straight just to see my real average.
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claire87214d ago
Wow, I totally get what you mean! I started counting my own "tool time" a few months ago too, and I was honestly shocked. On a typical day I only turned a wrench about 35 times, which felt way lower than I expected. All the time spent walking back and forth to the toolbox and filling out forms really eats into the actual hands-on stuff. It really makes you appreciate how much of the job is just the boring logistics part, not the fixing things. That number surprised me more than I thought it would.
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