EMB ERJ 145 ER/LR
Flight Crew Commercial
Other / Unknown
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Maintenance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General Maintenance Action
Human Factors; Procedure
After completing the before start/pushback checklist; we were notified by a Ramper that he had found a power tool 'in the wing'. We asked him for clarification and he specified in the wheel well. The Ramper notified his Supervisor and we called station Maintenance on the radio to come look into what happened. We found out the RON Maintenance station Mechanic had replaced the #3 tire overnight at another airport and left a power tool in the wing well after completing the job. After several minutes of discussion with the Ramp and Maintenance; we left without any incident. We had completed a flight from the RON airport to this airport with the power tool in the wheel well without any problems; unaware of the power tool being present. I didn't find the power tool on two separate walk-arounds; one at the RON airport in the dark and the second in the daylight at our first destination. Maintenance left a power tool in the wheel well after replacing the number three tire overnight. I should look more closely in the wheel wells for things that shouldn't be in there.
An EMB-145 First Officer reported not seeing a tire change assist tool in a main gear wheel well at the previous airport during a preflight in darkness; flying the first leg of the day; performing another walk around and having a Ramp worker find the tool before departure.