Narrative:

A B757 while enroute had an 'uncontrollable oscillation issue'. The pilot and the dispatcher determined to divert and maintenance control was never consulted about the decision to divert. The dispatcher and crew worked out their diversion information and while the operations manager was notifying the chief pilot; and making necessary reports a maintenance controller asked if this flight was diverting and requested to know why they were not consulted and why the flight was diverting. Once I explained that the crew reported an oscillation issue the maintenance controller insisted that this aircraft had history and that maintenance control should have been consulted. The maintenance controller then went to his computer terminal and sent the following message to the flight that was diverting; after they had [advised ATC].attention captain xxxxthis plane has historyplease make self available for debriefon arrival.. Was HF or VHF radios being usedduring occurancethis message was sent after a decision had been made to divert and may have been sent to a crew that was under duress after [advising ATC]. This message violates operational protocols and violates the joint responsibility shared by pilots and dispatchers. Once a flight has determined to divert communications should be limited to operational needs; the above message could have been sent after the flight was on the ground. Additionally the maintenance control group seemed especially concerned that there was no conference with them prior to diverting. While maintenance control input is helpful in most cases there was/is no requirement to include them in the decision process.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: While enroute a B757 had an uncontrollable oscillation. Worked with Dispatch to divert to another airport when Maintenance Control sent an ACARS message that may have distracted the flight crew while under duress.

Narrative: A B757 while enroute had an 'uncontrollable oscillation issue'. The pilot and the dispatcher determined to divert and Maintenance Control was never consulted about the decision to divert. The Dispatcher and crew worked out their diversion information and while the Operations Manager was notifying the Chief Pilot; and making necessary reports a Maintenance Controller asked if this flight was diverting and requested to know why they were not consulted and why the flight was diverting. Once I explained that the crew reported an oscillation issue the Maintenance Controller insisted that this aircraft had history and that Maintenance Control should have been consulted. The Maintenance Controller then went to his computer terminal and sent the following message to the flight that was diverting; after they had [advised ATC].ATTN CAPT XXXXTHIS PLANE HAS HISTORYPLEASE MAKE SELF AVAILABLE FOR DEBRIEFON ARRIVAL.. WAS HF OR VHF RADIOS BEING USEDDURING OCCURANCEThis message was sent after a decision had been made to divert and may have been sent to a crew that was under duress after [advising ATC]. This message violates operational protocols and violates the joint responsibility shared by pilots and dispatchers. Once a flight has determined to divert communications should be limited to operational needs; the above message could have been sent after the flight was on the ground. Additionally the maintenance control group seemed especially concerned that there was no conference with them prior to diverting. While Maintenance Control input is helpful in most cases there was/is no requirement to include them in the decision process.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.