<< >> NASA ASRS Report 683201, January 2006

An MD88 captain's flight director failed at a maintenance station. Maintenance controller advised captain to crew placard the flight director system.

Attributes
ACN	683201
Time
Date	200601
Local Time Of Day	1801 To 2400
Place
Locale Reference	airport : zzz.airport
State Reference	US
Altitude	agl single value : 0
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Operator	common carrier : air carrier
Make Model Name	MD-88
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	ground : parked ground : preflight
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Affiliation	company : air carrier
Function	flight crew : captain oversight : pic
Qualification	pilot : atp pilot : multi engine pilot : cfi pilot : commercial pilot : flight engineer pilot : instrument
Experience	flight time last 90 days : 100 flight time total : 11000 flight time type : 1150
ASRS Report	683201
Person 2
Affiliation	company : air carrier
Function	flight crew : first officer
Events
Anomaly	aircraft equipment problem : critical maintenance problem : non compliance with mel non adherence : company policies non adherence : far non adherence : published procedure
Independent Detector	other flight crewa other flight crewb
Resolutory Action	none taken : detected after the fact
Factors
Maintenance	contributing factor : schedule pressure performance deficiency : logbook entry performance deficiency : non compliance with legal requirements performance deficiency : fault isolation
Supplementary
Problem Areas	Chart Or Publication Maintenance Human Performance Aircraft
Primary Problem	Maintenance Human Performance

Narrative:

Captain's flight director would not initialize. Called maintenance on phone and told me to 'crew placard' the flight director. Per company procedure; a mechanic was supposed to sign off the flight director since we were at a maintenance base. The maintenance coordinator said he could override that since we were so late (2.5 hours) and mechanics were scarce. The dispatcher agreed. We flight crew placarded the flight director and continued the flight. I'm not sure if the maintenance coordinator really had authority/authorized to override company procedure.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: AN MD88 CAPT'S FLT DIRECTOR FAILED AT A MAINT STATION. MAINT CTLR ADVISED CAPT TO CREW PLACARD THE FLT DIRECTOR SYS.

Narrative: CAPT'S FLT DIRECTOR WOULD NOT INITIALIZE. CALLED MAINT ON PHONE AND TOLD ME TO 'CREW PLACARD' THE FLT DIRECTOR. PER COMPANY PROC; A MECH WAS SUPPOSED TO SIGN OFF THE FLT DIRECTOR SINCE WE WERE AT A MAINT BASE. THE MAINT COORDINATOR SAID HE COULD OVERRIDE THAT SINCE WE WERE SO LATE (2.5 HRS) AND MECHS WERE SCARCE. THE DISPATCHER AGREED. WE FLT CREW PLACARDED THE FLT DIRECTOR AND CONTINUED THE FLT. I'M NOT SURE IF THE MAINT COORDINATOR REALLY HAD AUTH TO OVERRIDE COMPANY PROC.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of January 2009 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.