My old crew chief swore by hand-torquing spark plugs, he was right

Back in 2013, working line maintenance in Phoenix, this guy named Dale told me to never trust a torque wrench on hot engines. I thought he was just stuck in his ways, so I kept using the calibrated snap-on like everyone else. Then one August afternoon, I stripped a plug thread on a CFM56 cowling and cost the airline 4 hours and a helicoil job. Dale didn't say I told you so, he just handed me a coffee and showed me the feel method on a scrap cylinder. Now I hand-start every plug and use the wrench only for the final quarter turn. Anyone else have an old timer's habit they ignored until it bit them?

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