Saw a guy torque a spark plug with his bare hands on a 737 yesterday

I was walking through the hangar and stopped to watch a new guy finish up an engine job. He just cranked those spark plugs down by feel and walked away like it was fine. I had to pull him aside and show him the torque spec sheet in the manual for that specific plug, which is 20 foot pounds on a CFM56. If that comes loose in flight, you're not just looking at a rough running engine, you're looking at a possible fire or sudden stoppage. I know some old timers say they can do it by hand, but the manual exists for a reason and it's not worth the risk. Has anyone else seen new guys skip the torque wrench on critical fasteners like this?

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young.michael1h ago

Yo hold up, that's wild but honestly the bigger issue nobody's talking about is the anti-seize compound. New guys will slather that stuff on like butter and then torque to spec, but with anti-seize you actually have to reduce the torque value by like 15-20% or you'll over-stretch the threads. I've seen plugs get seized in the hole because someone used too much copper-based stuff and it hardened up after a few heat cycles. Torque wrenches are only half the battle, the prep work matters just as much.