"Maintenance Copy!!"

"Maintenance, copy!" That is the dreaded call that starts almost every gate we have on Day and Swing shift. This particular cal happened on Day shift last weekend. "Maintenance, copy! The plane pulling into Gate 25 would like to talk to you about a Bleed Trip." Damn, did she say "Bleed Trip"? "Is it my turn to go?"

"Hey Goat, can you go to Gate 25, Bleed Trip".

Is it me or do these bleed problems seem to follow me around? Well it had been raining so the prospects for an MEL are not very high.

When I got to the gate I went up to the cockpit and the Captain was already standing up. He says, as he passes me, "The Bleed Tripped on descent and again when we were taxiing to the gate. Oh and also (this is where they always get you) the number one TR is also inop."

So I figure I will pop the cowls, look at the TR paddles, try resetting the EAU, and call MX Control on the bleed trip. Tuna came out to give me a hand and we tried but could not get the TR to work right. Tuna went up to call MX Control and I started to lock out the TR. While I was doing that a miracle happened! Tuna calls down that MX Control says we can MEL BOTH PROBLEMS. They got Dispatch on the line and got the green light to MEL the bleed air since they were going to Las Vegas next and they planned on taking it out of service there. Feeling better than ever I opened up the C Duct to lock the PRSOV closed while Tuna started with the MEL paperwork. Everything was locked out and all SPs complied with etc. I went upstairs to help Tuna and here comes the Captain back down the jetway.

As a side note, we had the ramp hold off on loading bags until we knew what was going on with the flight. Since I found out we were going to MEL and fly the plane to Vegas I told the Ramp Sup to load her up. Tuna gave the ok to OPS to board the passengers while he was busy MELing both problems.

Well by the time I got upstairs the pax were loaded and the ramp was busy loading the bags. I wired the TR handle and flipped the CAT placard. When I was in the jetway with Tuna and saw the Captain strolling down the jetway with his Andela Burritto bag in his hand I was feeling real good. As he was passing he asked what we had come up with and we told him that Dispatch gave us the green light to MEL both problems. The look on his face said it all-he was not happy. He disappeared around the corner into the plane and Tuna continued with the paperwork.

A few minutes later the Captain comes out to us and tells us that Dispatch had switched planes and that this one was staying here! Obviously he had made a call and decided that he did not want to take the plane to Vegas with an inop bleed and TR, cried enough about it to them to make them change the plan on us.

This type of thing happens more often than you would think. Several times flight crews have called Dispatch or Chief Pilots to complain about a plane that was perfectly legal to fly. I fail to understand how or why these crew get almighty Dispatch to cow down and change maintenance plans. It's not that we are trying to get out of work or be lazy, Tuna and I did end up fixing the plane, BOTH issues. The problem is that these whining crews think that they are the most important part of the SWA equation. I once had a guy refuse to take a flight until "someone cleans my windows"!

I wonder what would happen if I came to work a graveyard shift and saw that I was working an HMU with a couple of other problems and turned around and said "I refuse to take this jet". Can I call Tator Tot (our manager) and get another plane to work on. WAIT that has already happened hasn't it! The problem with that thinking is that even if you do argue your way out of something you do not want to do, or give up and simply go home, someone else is going to have to do the job. It seems to be the "Why Me?" company now-a-days. "Why do I have to?" "Why does Goat get an MV-1 and I have an MV-3?""Why,why,why...........?"

Why don't we all just do the job presented to us? Why don't we see that there is a bigger picture at stake?" Why ask why?-Very little will change any time soon.