US 1072 canceled in SJU today

[PHL]

It appears that N275AY, which just came back from Mobile yesterday, made it down to SJU today at 1071 but canceled the return leg.
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AWE1072/history/20120105/1940Z/TJSJ/KPHL

I guess that's why you don't run a plane that's been in a 2 month overhaul/refurbishment on a long haul route first.. Any comments as to the issue?

 

[usfliboi]

It appears that N275AY, which just came back from Mobile yesterday, made it down to SJU today at 1071 but canceled the return leg.
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AWE1072/history/20120105/1940Z/TJSJ/KPHL

I guess that's why you don't run a plane that's been in a 2 month overhaul/refurbishment on a long haul route first.. Any comments as to the issue?

Dont have a dog in that fight do you? Whats the excuse when US mechanics work on our planes and they fail? I say anything mechanical can and will break!

 

[700UW]

PHL-SJU is not a long flight, shorter than PHL-Europe. But ST MAE is known for their problems, witnessed several myself.

 

[UPNAWAY]

This does bring up an interesting point. Conventional wisdom is a plane out of heavy MX should preform much better then a plane about to go into a heavy check. My experience is the opposite, when an aircraft has a very heavy check it is like major surgery, one doesn't immediately hit the gym after triple by pass do they? When they take apart everything and put it all back together, especially in the avionics arena it will take a few weeks to work out the kinks so to speak. I have known many a mechanic to say, "when you take your car to the shop it runs better" but they didn't take my car apart and reassemble it did they?

 

[A320 Driver]

This does bring up an interesting point. Conventional wisdom is a plane out of heavy MX should preform much better then a plane about to go into a heavy check. My experience is the opposite, when an aircraft has a very heavy check it is like major surgery, one doesn't immediately hit the gym after triple by pass do they? When they take apart everything and put it all back together, especially in the avionics arena it will take a few weeks to work out the kinks so to speak. I have known many a mechanic to say, "when you take your car to the shop it runs better" but they didn't take my car apart and reassemble it did they?

So what would you suggest...fly it in a holding pattern above PHL until we feel all better about ourselves? It's got to start flying sometime and there is a limit to how much testing/inspection you can do on the ground. One of the aircraft returned from Mobile was written up for fumes sometime back in SJU. It turned out to be the new rubber matting in the galleys. Ever bought new mats for your car?? Can you say "overly sensitized"?

Driver...

 

[PHL]

Certainly flying holding patterns over PHL is not practical or fiscally prudent. It obviously made the flight from Mobile back to PHL the day before and didn't experience anything that would have it grounded before going to SJU the next day. But I guess it's still prudent to run it on a revenue flight or two that give you better options for maintenance on the ground and/or a suitable landing site if something goes amiss.

Do we have any feedback about this particular aircraft and why it's sitting in SJU?

 

[700UW]

Besides its ferry flight, there is a test hop before the planes is released back to US after maintenance.

 

[UPNAWAY]

No I am not suggestion anything different needs to be done. Nor do I think an aircraft with a MX issue right after a check is the result of some shoddy work.

 

[700UW]

Well I guess you didnt work the first A319 that was overhauled in Mobile, three emergency landings because of improper flight control rigging, plane had to be reworked and fixed by Charlotte Line Mtc in the Line Hangar.

I can give more examples, shall I continue?

Hard to see these things from a cubicle in Tempe, vs actually being at an airport and dealing with it first hand.

You have to remember one thing when a US mechanic works on an airplane its all safety driven, when a plane is worked at an MRO its about time and money.

 

[usfliboi]

Well I guess you didnt work the first A319 that was overhauled in Mobile, three emergency landings because of improper flight control rigging, plane had to be reworked and fixed by Charlotte Line Mtc in the Line Hangar.

I can give more examples, shall I continue?

Hard to see these things from a cubicle in Tempe, vs actually being at an airport and dealing with it first hand.

You have to remember one thing when a US mechanic works on an airplane its all safety driven, when a plane is worked at an MRO its about time and money.

Actually id like you to continue....Have the tail number on that baby? Ill investigate

 

[700UW]

It was the first Airbus A319 sent to ST Mobile Aerospace back in 2005, there is an old thread on here somewhere about it. And I also remember A/C 706 or 711, that came back from MAE and it came to D-Con, FAs couldnt arm the slide, come to find out the slide was rigged wrong and the girt bar attachments were missing, wonder who signed off that repair?

Also the J31 crash in Charlotte was due to MRO having someone work on a plane that wasnt trained on that repair.

 

[PHL]

It was the first Airbus A319 sent to ST Mobile Aerospace back in 2005, there is an old thread on here somewhere about it. And I also remember A/C 706 or 711, that came back from MAE and it came to D-Con, FAs couldnt arm the slide, come to find out the slide was rigged wrong and the girt bar attachments were missing, wonder who signed off that repair?

Also the J31 crash in Charlotte was due to MRO having someone work on a plane that wasnt trained on that repair.

While you two are at it, you should also go back in history to list accidents due to faulty maintenance by in house shops as well. The AA191 comes to mind where the in house shop improvised the published procedure of removing an engine that saved a lot of time and money. The engine fell off the plane on take off a few weeks later and everyone died. So, yes, accidents happen with in house maintenance because there is still the underlying goal of saving money. This example proved catastrophic. There are likely many other in house mechanical snafus that go unnoticed by the public, but are surely talked about in the hangars amongst A&Ps.

Also, how US many aircraft have had major maintenance done, and of those how many of those came back with no issues versus those that did? I'm sure someone is keeping track, and that is something a cubicle person in Tempe would take notice of.

But this thread wasn't meant to stoke the outsource mx vs. in house. I just am curious what the issue with 275 was just days after it came home from a 2 month overhaul.

 

[A320 Driver]

Well I guess you didnt work the first A319 that was overhauled in Mobile, three emergency landings because of improper flight control rigging, plane had to be reworked and fixed by Charlotte Line Mtc in the Line Hangar.

I can give more examples, shall I continue?

Hard to see these things from a cubicle in Tempe, vs actually being at an airport and dealing with it first hand.

You have to remember one thing when a US mechanic works on an airplane its all safety driven, when a plane is worked at an MRO its about time and money.

One of those landings came after the flaps had been re-rigged IN HOUSE. The culprit? A bad job card provided by the airline. I don't like third party maintenance...period, but lets keep the facts straight.

Driver...

 

[UPNAWAY]

And I can find the exact same type of problems with Aircraft out of CLT or PIT, the numbers do not lie our performance from Contract MX is as good as in house.

 

[700UW]

Once again figures dont lie but figurers do.

Now that 50% of mtc is done in-house.