A line mechanic reported becoming distracted during a conversation with the flight crew resulting in...

Narrative:

I was called out to a B737-300 aircraft for an inoperative first officer flight director. Upon entering the cockpit; first on my mind was to brief the crew and ask about the current problem. I immediately noticed the first officer's 'B' system autopilot breaker popped. I reset the circuit breaker and the first officer's flight director re-appeared (bars and southwest light) as 'normal.' both captain and first officer still seated; began talking to me about how wonderful maintenance is and how they can rely on us to fix the problem at hand. Due to this conversation I lost track of time with the crew and that a CAT III upgrade needed to be done on this airship. I am aware of this error.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Line Mechanic reported becoming distracted during a conversation with the flight crew resulting in his failure to perform a required CAT-3 upgrade to the aircraft prior to departure.

Narrative: I was called out to a B737-300 aircraft for an inoperative First Officer Flight Director. Upon entering the cockpit; first on my mind was to brief the crew and ask about the current problem. I immediately noticed the First Officer's 'B' system autopilot breaker popped. I reset the circuit breaker and the First Officer's Flight Director re-appeared (bars and SW light) as 'normal.' Both Captain and First Officer still seated; began talking to me about how wonderful Maintenance is and how they can rely on us to fix the problem at hand. Due to this conversation I lost track of time with the crew and that a CAT III upgrade needed to be done on this airship. I am aware of this error.

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.

Attributes
ACN	870668
Time
Date	200908
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-300
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Component
Aircraft Component	Autoland
Person 1
Function	Technician
Qualification	Maintenance Airframe Maintenance Powerplant
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe

A line mechanic reported becoming distracted during a conversation with the flight crew resulting in his failure to perform a required CAT-3 upgrade to the aircraft prior to departure.