Narrative:

Upon arriving at aircraft; several discrepancies were noted in the A320 condition that required inspection by maintenance personnel. Items were put into ACARS per flight operations manual and maintenance control advised us via ACARS. Approximately 80 minutes after initial ACARS entry we had a mechanic show up at aircraft; and then another arrived. As we had five items; the mechanics took quite some time to address; the most labor intensive was the draining of the blue hydraulic (hydraulic) system to put it into limits as prescribed in the flight manual. The mechanics had great difficulty clearing the items as they only had one phone and they had no idea as to its location. They do need to have verbal communication with maintenance control to clear items; per our air carrier procedure. When we finally received our maintenance release all items were cleared; and specifically log-2 which reported a pressure indication from the blue system (hydraulic) pump to the RAT on the hydraulic page; reset blue hydraulic pump; indication normal. (Side note): this item has been reported by the captain on fully 50% of the aircraft on his current trip alone. Perhaps a maintenance alert to figure out why the pressure switches on the A-320/319 blue hydraulic system are all failing is in order. This has been observed multiple times in past few months by captain. At this time; captain finally got on the maintenance phone with maintenance control and reported this item as not cleared and that at least one flight crew member was in the cockpit at all times with the mechanic staff; advised maintenance control this item never was cleared; as described in the maintenance release. Maintenance control said it probably re-occurred. We strongly disagreed stating once again; we never left the cockpit unattended; the item was never repaired; not even for a second. The item was re-opened and the proper deferral procedures carried out. The gate supervisor was asked why the maintenance we received was so poor this day and he stated the preferred (contract maintenance) company was not available and the gentlemen we were given were the second choice available. It was fairly obvious why. These gentleman mechanics had very little airbus knowledge and I question whether or not they should be working on our air carrier aircraft. Obviously if they did not understand an issue; they just said it was done; although obviously not. They had us; the flight crew on board to ask for clarification as well as maintenance control on the phone; they chose (instead) to say work complete. I think this was not malicious; just a demonstration of lack of knowledge. While it is not the (flight) crews job to monitor or supervise supposedly qualified mechanics; I can't imagine the job these two (mechanics) would have done without some heavy hand-holding.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An A320 Captain reported that Contract Mechanics appeared to have little Airbus knowledge and were unable to provide proper repairs without crew supervision and consultation with Maintenance Control on the Blue HYD System which he also alleges has had recurring failures of pressure switches.

Narrative: Upon arriving at aircraft; several discrepancies were noted in the A320 condition that required Inspection by Maintenance personnel. Items were put into ACARS per Flight Operations Manual and Maintenance Control advised us via ACARS. Approximately 80 minutes after initial ACARS entry we had a Mechanic show up at aircraft; and then another arrived. As we had five items; the Mechanics took quite some time to address; the most labor intensive was the draining of the Blue hydraulic (HYD) system to put it into limits as prescribed in the Flight Manual. The Mechanics had great difficulty clearing the items as they only had one phone and they had no idea as to its location. They do need to have verbal communication with Maintenance Control to clear items; per our air carrier procedure. When we finally received our Maintenance Release all items were cleared; and specifically Log-2 which reported a pressure Indication from the Blue system (HYD) pump to the RAT on the HYD page; reset Blue HYD pump; Indication normal. (Side note): this item has been reported by the Captain on fully 50% of the aircraft on his current trip alone. Perhaps a Maintenance Alert to figure out why the Pressure switches on the A-320/319 Blue HYD system are all failing is in order. This has been observed multiple times in past few months by Captain. At this time; Captain finally got on the Maintenance phone with Maintenance Control and reported this item as NOT cleared and that at least one Flight Crew member was in the cockpit at all times with the Mechanic staff; advised Maintenance Control this item never was cleared; as described in the Maintenance Release. Maintenance Control said it probably re-occurred. We strongly disagreed stating once again; we never left the cockpit unattended; the item was never repaired; not even for a second. The item was re-opened and the proper deferral procedures carried out. The gate Supervisor was asked why the Maintenance we received was so poor this day and he stated the preferred (Contract Maintenance) company was not available and the gentlemen we were given were the second choice available. It was fairly obvious why. These gentleman Mechanics had very little Airbus knowledge and I question whether or not they should be working on our air carrier aircraft. Obviously if they did not understand an issue; they just said it was done; although obviously not. They had us; the Flight Crew on board to ask for clarification as well as Maintenance Control on the phone; they chose (instead) to say work complete. I think this was not malicious; just a demonstration of lack of knowledge. While it is not the (Flight) crews job to monitor or Supervise supposedly qualified Mechanics; I can't imagine the job these two (Mechanics) would have done without some heavy hand-holding.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.