Also as a profesional aircraft mechanic I realize that the it is going to come and I like to think that I am mature enough to accept it when it happens. We all know guys who whine about the work that they get assigned and know how frustrating it is to deal with those guys. As a person who has moonlighted in the foreman slot I know all too well that dealing with those people is not a pleasant experience. That said we as profesional mechanics have to realize that guys have good days and bad days, and some of us are not good at leaving all that home stuff at home. I personally try not to complain about the hand that is dealt me (although I know that I have before) and I can understand that if a guy has to change an HMU one night he may complain if he comes in on OT and gets assigned another HMU.
Unlike other jobs where if things are not going well we often cannot simply put something down or aside and work on another thing. There is not going to be any closing of the spreadsheet or going down the hall to visit a co-worker. Our job is a results based job and like it or not a time based one as well. So my main it, the thing that drives me the most crazy is working on a plane all day and leaving it broke, having made very little headway. So here is what happened:
Day shift, about 10am I head out to a gate call for Leading Edge Slats not retracting upon landing. As I roll up on the plane, sure enough the slats are out. When I talk to the crew they are in a good mood (which always helps) they inform me that this is a repeat write-up from yesterday and sure enough the leading edge B system pressure hydraulic fuse was replaced for the same problem just the night before. I tell the OPS guy not to board and go check out this fuse. I'm looking around, as you guys know there are a few hyd fuses in the wheel well and I have no idea which does what. Up on the ceiling there is one fuse that is clean (this is an old work dog 300) so I figure thats the one. The lead calls MX Control and gets no help from them really so I checked the Auto-Slat box on her advice to make sure the problem was not in that system, no joy.
As I start up the jetway the Captain stops me to ask if the plane is good to go-"nope". As I get into the jetway the FO asks me if the plane is good to go-"nope". As I turn into the cockpit the Flight Attendants ask me if the plane is good to go-"nope". As I leave the cockpit the OPS Sup asks me if the plane is good to go and thats when I had had enough and asked them all if they thought I would keep the status of the plane a secret from them. I mean why not let me work and get back to them when I was ready? I know, I know-thats a subject for another post.
Turns out I had the right fuse so I back off the B nut drain the one side of the thing, back off the B nut on the other side and get a face full of Hyd fluid. Luckily just moments before the Lead asked me why I was not wearing safety glasses so I threw them on. The glasses deflected the majority of the fluid but could not stop the stuff dripping off my forehead and right into my eye. I got a good bit in mouth as well and as it turned out that was only the first time of many that day in which the taste of hyd fluid would be in my mouth.
Once the fuse was reattached the slats worked fine except (you knew that was coming) one end of the fuse now had a leak. I tried to tighten the B nut but it did not help, I took it off again and cleaned the B nut out but that did not help so we ordered a new fuse. Well as it is a fuse does not typically shut unless there is a leak so I put everything back together, hung my bucket on the dripping line and we ran the Flaps/Slats a bunch of times to find the leak. Not too long into this I found #2 Slat actuator leaking. Cool, I'm thinking, at least now I'm getting some where. The Lead checks it out and of course we have neither the Actuator or the Fuse! Since the actuator had to come out I started to take off all the panels and such to gain access. Anyone who has done this before knows that there are about two hundred screws, four or five access panels a bunch of bolts and a few nuts to deal with. After that it was wit til 4pm for the parts.
Fast forward to 4pm I grabbed the fuse and installed it first. I figured it was the quickest. Another couple of drops of hyd fluid in the mouth/hair/eyes and it was time for a leak check. Guess what? That SOB was still leaking! I took off the line that the fuse connected to and the flair was cracked! Now I need a line! I can't use a temp line because this line snakes in between the Aileron mixer, two cables, and two rods. When I called AOG they told me that the line was NIS (Not In Stock) system wide and that they would have to call Boeing! Well now it's about 5 or 5:30. It's Saturday we only had four guys on shift and Terminators were in range so I had to stop and help with that. Actually I was not even supposed to be working that plane since we only had four guys covering the line but the guys were cool and let me break off here and there to work it.
When I left the plane to a guy working RON I had accomplished zero. As a matter of fact we were worse off than when we started since we needed a line that nobody had! Before I gave up completely I did put the old line back in, and hung my bucket from it again so the RON guy could change and leak check the #2 actuator. Kind of sucks but hey he was on OT.....
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