MRO Outsourced Maintenance

[eolesen]

What year was that, Bob? Before or after Valujet went down? And how much has changed since then?

 

[700UW]

Air Midwest Crash in CLT:

After take-off, the plane climbed steeply before stalling, despite both pilots pushing the control column forward. The aircraft's most recent service involved adjusting the elevator control cable, and was performed two nights before the crash at a repair facility located at Tri-State Airport in Huntington, West Virginia. During the investigation, it emerged that the mechanic who worked on the elevator cables had never worked on this type of aircraft. Investigation revealed that turnbuckles controlling tension on the cables to the elevators had been set incorrectly, resulting in insufficient elevator travel, leading to the pilots not having sufficient pitch control. Although a post-adjustment control test would normally be conducted to ensure proper operation, the maintenance supervisor who was instructing the mechanic decided to skip this step. The NTSB noted that the FAA were aware of the "serious deficiencies" in the training procedures at the facility, but had done nothing to correct them.[7]

 

[Hackman]

Those places are Aircraft Mechanic purgatories, or worse. I couldnt get out of their quick enough! Thats what EO doesnt get. When I showed my supervisor the problem with soldering in the batteries his response was 'Thats the way we do it here, if you dont like it theres the door" There was no Union, no "Whistleblower protection" and no ASAP back then, so I took the door option. What EO fails to realize is that with a Union you are less likely to be forced to do shoddy work. We put our names on what we do, for most, that means something.

It's amazing that these multi-million dollar aircraft are entrusted to some of these operators, let alone people flying on them when they've been "overhauled". I was at one in California a few years ago for a couple days. This "MRO" had a ex-UAL 767 they were attempting a heavy C check. These goobers had pulled the nose gear out with a fork lift and tow straps, in the process damaged the nose gear well and door seals. The main gear was removed, and the surrounding structure was banged up also. The scary thing is they had no idea how to get the gear back in. The nose gear requires a sling (tooling) to re-install, the mains are tricky also, and a lot of work.

So this forlorn 767 airframe was stripped and sitting there for going on 60 days, no where near on schedule, and many more problems than just the gear. This "FBO" had no parts, no tooling, no hardware, no equipment, and no AMT's who even looked like they had a clue. Hell, even to open the hanger doors one had to use a forklift, the electric motors didn't work. I wonder sometimes how long it took this "MRO"to get that bird out the door...6 months???.....a year??? Never??? I know one thing, the manager was asking us if we wanted to come back and work....in fact he was begging for any help we could lend. I just wanted to leave, because that place was an "Aircraft Mechanic Purgatory".... and one for aircraft also.

I know not all "MRO's" are like this, but I bet many are. None of them can take on AA Maintenance & Engineering in quality, quantity, and time line of the work that's done at TULE, AFW, DFW, DWH. Maybe Luftansa Technik, but that's about it. Good luck getting in there any time soon.

 

[787nightmare]

Valujet 592 crash. May 1996. I personally hold the CEO of that carrier and his cast of characters/cronies single handedly responsible for that disaster.(who btw, was a protege of ex CO/Texas Air chairman-need I say more??)
All my experiences were well after that era.
This MRO/component outsourcing issue has been taking place for years.

The traveling public has no idea...they just assume...The airline executives don't care. So long as the required heavy task cards are signed off/on budget, they're satisfied. Problems with the plane/FAA after return to service?, they just point to the "MRO" who performed the work. The airline washes it's hands of the maintenance...

 

[Bob Owens]

What year was that, Bob? Before or after Valujet went down? And how much has changed since then?

The only thing thats changed is there is more pressure to cut maintenance costs and more stuff is outsourced. The FAA spends all their time nitpicking things at the last carrier that still does it in house while ignoring most of the others. Things are worse since Valuejet. We know, we get the "Bad from stock" parts and have to do the job twice(or more) to get it fixed.

 

[Interested]

Who does Delta's Engines O/H's? The last 2 paragraphs are pretty interesting.
This is from the WSJ that came across my yahoo news feed.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703567304575629520426512514.html?ru=yahoo&mod=yahoo_hs

 

[700UW]

More great MRO work

FAA to fine ATS for MTC on WN Planes.

Hey Eo, your silent on the several posts about shoddy mro work.

 

[Bandit6794]

More great MRO work

FAA to fine ATS for MTC on WN Planes.

Hey Eo, your silent on the several posts about shoddy mro work.

Lets just hope he stays silent and fades away

 

[eolesen]

No such luck. Is the ATS incident shoddy maintenance or a deviation from WN's procedures?

This took place in 2007. Can you tell me how many WN aircraft were lost because of this? I'll give you a hint --- none.

I'm not disputing that there have been examples of shoddy maintenance from vendors, UW.

I'm just of the opinion that while you guys like to sensationalize and point to these incidents, the same types of deviations and oversights occured (and will continue to occur) with in-house operations as well. Even with checks & balances and experienced workers, mistakes are going to be made.

 

[700UW]

I see you ignored the Air Midwest Crash and it's not WN's procedures, they have 544 planes, the fine is over 14 planes. The check was an AD from the FAA on the Scribe Etches in the fuselage causing cracks.

Good Article on Outsourcing

 

[Bob Owens]

No such luck. Is the ATS incident shoddy maintenance or a deviation from WN's procedures?

Deviation from the established proceedures is shoddy maintenance.

 

[eolesen]

Deviation from the established proceedures is shoddy maintenance.

Then I guess you guys are painted with the shoddy brush as well, since there was documented deviation from established procedure with regard to the wiring bundles....

 

[Bob Owens]

Then I guess you guys are painted with the shoddy brush as well, since there was documented deviation from established procedure with regard to the wiring bundles....

Thats how the FAA sees it.The proceedure was followed, the FAA cited the spacing, which can be open to interpretation. Is one inch apart center to center or end to end?

 

[Hopeful]

E, residential building codes are more precise than FAA AD's.
When they say wall studs shall be 16 inches apart, they specify 16 inches ON CENTER.....that's it....ON CENTER.

The FAA AD was never that specific.

 

[eolesen]

E, residential building codes are more precise than FAA AD's.
When they say wall studs shall be 16 inches apart, they specify 16 inches ON CENTER.....that's it....ON CENTER.

The FAA AD was never that specific.

I know that, but a deviation is a deviation, and who is to say that one deviation is less worthy of a fine than another?... Deviation doesn't necessarily mean unsafe. It just means that the process wasn't approved and/or that someone made a judgement call.

And again, my point is that as long as you have humans (licensed or not, experienced or new, in-house or 3P) looking at mechanical objects, there are going to be deviations, mistakes, and lapses in judgement.