Ramp agent reprimanded for reporting MX issue

bflynn said:
Bu that isn't what the management was upset about. They were upset because an airplane was delayed. Their concern wasn't safety, it was a money. The mechanic was calm.

I'm sure there are multiple sides to the story.
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of course the airline, and most other industries care about is money. And airlines they care more about the ontime performance. Safety is a cool 3rd place.
 
Ed Haywood said:
That must be why the US airline industry has such an awful safety record for the last 10 years.
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With the hiring frenzy right now and the inter airline poaching going on, lets hope your comment ages well. The FFD side is in trouble, i would hate for the spectre of colgan 3407 to karma slap the hubris out of everyone on this matter.
 
Only read a few posts. You are working in an environment vastly more complicated than you are aware of. How do you know if the do-hickey sight glass wasn't intentionally deactivated? You don't.

What if one of those things you are not authorized to open, flaps open in flight, departs the aircraft and kills someone on the ground. And, they go back and check videos to see you messing with it before flight.

Do you know what the MEL/CDL is?

Do you know how to check for legit deferred Mx?
 
LOL! I just saw this virtuous work ethic posted on Facebook:

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Bacho said:
If this ramper had dropped his flashlight in there and not recovered it for any reason the persons that performed the last MX would be forced to answer unanswerable questions.
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This reminded me of when a newbie aircraft maintenance apprentice I knew dropped his flashlight after topping off the oil tank on a C-124 "Old Shakey". He said it bounced once off the skin and did a perfect somersault, no splash, right through the opening and disappeared beneath the waves, shining as it sank. It was a mortifying feeling, he said. I don't remember how the heck they got it fished out. Maybe it's still there?
 
Hope this turns out to be a great learning opportunity for the OP.... in more way than one...

How did the OP know the gauge viewed was even for the engine oil and not the gauge for the IDG oil? Does that matter? If not sure what an IDG is, could that be another hint maybe the action is outside of training?

Hold your head up high, shoulders back, and own your mistakes. They make us better.
 
Salty said:
Yeah, when the ER gets busy, the janitor should start doing surgeries to help out.
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Ed Haywood said:
Or at least make the rounds to check charts. Just in case. And be sure to tell the patients your concerns.
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And if he happens to know how to read an O2 gauge he shouldn't check out the emergency O2 bottle when he mops the floor under it? Or report it if it's flat? C'mon, we can play all day. The OP has a can-do attitude, which is good. It just needs a little channeling.
 
I've heard that successful implementation of a safety culture is when every person in the organization is invested enough to report something when they notice things that look like they may be unsafe.

Not withstanding that, if your only policy guidance are the ramp manuals, you need to restrict your activity to the tasks described in them. If you have not been given policy and trained to performing daily engine maintenance, leave it alone.
 
Yep, my career was in the substation department of a power company.

A recent new employee was instructed by the station operator to dust everything with a feather duster.

Realizing that the employee was no longer visible in the control room, he searched for him, and found him on a 12 foot ladder, dusting the bare 13,000 volt bus work suspended from the ceiling. Definitely dusty, as it is only de energized once a year for cleaning.

The danger of going above and beyond what was expected.

Fortunately, he did not grab the copper to steady himself. The feathers do not conduct.
 
Today was a busy day at my local field. It was a bit gusty so I decided not to fly. Instead I took the opportunity and walk the ramp providing curtesy inspections to all tied down and parked aircraft. It was the usual mix of Cherokees, 172s, a few multi to include some jets and turbines. It was quite the lift but I was able to provide my curtesy inspection services to all 17 aircraft. Being the organized individual I am, I wrote all my findings in a notebook. To further assist I placed yellow sticky notes on the items of concern. I dropped the notebook off at the FBO and drove home knowing that I saved lives. We all must do our part!
 
EdFred said:
Ah, so when student pilots solo and we all rah-rah that they are a pilot now, it's cool. But now it's being poo-poo'd. Convenient.
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Kind of like us health care workers comparing 2020 to current 2022 ...

Salty said:
Totally different. If that guy had walked up to an aircraft you owned and opened the oil hatch to check your oil, would you be ok with that? I would not.
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I refuel even if a line guy is there. The two times I let them, there was a fountain of spewed fuel ....

Salty said:
Yeah, when the ER gets busy, the janitor should start doing surgeries to help out.
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The ER gets busy because they don't want to pay physician ER specialists, they rely on nurse practicioners and physician assistants ... things get interesting when you get near their limit.
 
Back when I was a line service tech, I only touched the panels I was trained/allowed to open (fuel, lav, water). However, I did once have the pilot of a small bizjet ask me to grab a ladder, open the access panel on the engines, and check the oil levels using the sight gauge.

I had no idea which panel he was talking about or where the gauge was (despite my PPL) so I had him get up there himself after bringing the ladder over. He confirmed it needed oil, bought some, and instructed that I fill it to X level. I did it then had him verify after I was done.

I thought it was neat and had never seen how you open the cans of turbine engine oil (looks like a big soup can but it's full of oil) but there was no way in heck I was going to just do it myself.

Reminds me of the time I was driving back to the line and saw a couple of our guys trying to move a CRJ-200. When I got to the aircraft I found that they'd opened the door and were sat confused in the cockpit looking for the brake release. They asked me how to disengage the brakes since I was a pilot (because of course all planes are similar) - I immediately called the front desk to have them talk to the pilot to ask how to do that safely. They weren't aware we were going to move the aircraft and gave us instructions on how to do so.
 
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Saw an engineering request a few weeks ago, IDG was serviced with Skydrol. Once detected, airplane is down. Not sure if you can use the MEL because it's not broken, just improper maintenance. Maint has no guidelines, it goes to engineering. Airline engineering is primarily support, config management, reliability, SB implementation and modification. So it goes to OEM, OEM will defer to component OEM, who probably has a seals - chemistry guy. Could IDG seals leak and possibly contaminate engine gearbox fluids, yes! Want to just R&R it all and put the plane back in service? Sure! Numb-nuts can cover it with his paychecks for the next 15 years. Don't pour fluids into holes you find in engines unless you know what you are doing! That's what I love about aviation. You couldn't make this stuff up.
 
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geezer said:
Yep, my career was in the substation department of a power company.

A recent new employee was instructed by the station operator to dust everything with a feather duster.

Realizing that the employee was no longer visible in the control room, he searched for him, and found him on a 12 foot ladder, dusting the bare 13,000 volt bus work suspended from the ceiling. Definitely dusty, as it is only de energized once a year for cleaning.

The danger of going above and beyond what was expected.

Fortunately, he did not grab the copper to steady himself. The feathers do not conduct.
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sounds like his supervisor should be in trouble for not explaining processes on what seems like a trivial task on a dangerous environment.
 
geezer said:
Yep, my career was in the substation department of a power company.

A recent new employee was instructed by the station operator to dust everything with a feather duster.

Realizing that the employee was no longer visible in the control room, he searched for him, and found him on a 12 foot ladder, dusting the bare 13,000 volt bus work suspended from the ceiling. Definitely dusty, as it is only de energized once a year for cleaning.
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I worked at one of those internet startups in the early 2000, the kind that had free beer in the break room and spread out trays of catered food every evening.

Came into the break room late one day and found one of the custodial staff dusting. She was brushing the food with her feather duster.

Ron Wanttaja
 
wanttaja said:
I worked at one of those internet startups in the early 2000, the kind that had free beer in the break room and spread out trays of catered food every evening.

Came into the break room late one day and found one of the custodial staff dusting. She was brushing the food with her feather duster.

Ron Wanttaja
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"Sorry Robert, $5 dollars doesn't buy my undivided attention....". Not condoning it, but in the words of Chris Rock "not saying he shoulda kill 'er...but I understand." :D
 
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