In one of the canteens there was a tool setup for anyone to purchase tools from. I asked this guy about tool control if anyone bought their own from here. His reply was, "if you lose one of your own tools it hurts you in the pocket, not the companies"!
That I can beleive. A long time ago at a large Oxfordshire airbase. I had to assist an engineer fix an APU on a 747. He was not allowed to use our highlift equipment, so I had to go out with him as trade assist. What I saw that night left a lasting impression. The highlift could not go all the way into the APU compartment, so he got a set of 'A' frame steps to go in the rest of the way. I was still a young and impresionable mechanic and had the ways of FOD and tool control drilled into me from day one in the RAF. The engineer opend up his tool kit which looked like something I would use in my garage. He only had to change an ignitor but I was also confused as to why he antiwirlocked the new ignitor to the APU. I nervously askead him if he was happy and askead if the wirelocking was ok? His reply was,' it will be ok, if it comes undone the wire will stop it, whatever way the wire is done'
. All the bollockings I have received over the years for antwirlocking something, that remarke will always be there in the back of my mind.