AN AIRBUS 320 REQUIRED NOSE GEAR STRUT SEAL REPLACEMENT TO ALLOW NORMAL GEAR RETRACTION BUT TOOLING WAS UNAVAILABLE AND MAINT MANUAL PROCS WERE CONFUSING RESULTING IN USING THE WRONG FLUID.

Date: 1998-02 · Aircraft: Medium Large Transport; Low Wing; 2 Turbojet Eng

Anomalies: aircraft-equipment-problem-critical|other-unspecified

Synopsis

AN AIRBUS 320 REQUIRED NOSE GEAR STRUT SEAL REPLACEMENT TO ALLOW NORMAL GEAR RETRACTION BUT TOOLING WAS UNAVAILABLE AND MAINT MANUAL PROCS WERE CONFUSING RESULTING IN USING THE WRONG FLUID.

Narrative

I WAS ASKED TO WORK WITH MECHS ON ACFT XYZ; FEB/XX/98; APPROX TIME XA00. I WAS TO BE THE INSPECTOR; BUT SOON SAW THAT NOSE LNDG GEAR LEAK (CONFERENCE WITH OUR ENGINEERING) WOULD BE STRUT CHANGE FOR SEAL REPLACEMENT. MGMNT ASKED US TO RE-SVC FOR A MAINT FERRY. CONFERENCE WITH LCL ENGINEERING AND YYY ENGINEERING WE WERE INFORMED PAPERWORK WAS IN DESPERATE NEED OF RE-WRITE. OUR FIRST PROB WAS THE 3 WAY VALVE NEEDED IN PAPERWORK WAS NOT STOCKED AT ZZZ. WHEN WE INFORMED MGMNT WE WERE ASKED TO PRESS ON. MAINT MANUAL PAPERWORK FIRST STATES TO SVC SVC CHART WITH SKYDROL; THEN LATER STATED TO USE MIL-H-5606. WE MISSED SEEING THIS SECOND REF. ACR PROCS GN/MM 9-0-0-6 ALSO STATE IF PRESSURE FILLING OF STRUT DIFFER FROM MAINT MANUAL THERE WILL BE SPECIFIC DOCUMENTS. THERE ARE NO AIRBUS 'PURGE-VAC' INSTRUCTION FOR THE AIRBUS MAINT MANUAL AS ACR HAS FOR ITS OTHER FLEETS; YET WE WERE QUESTIONED WHY WE DIDN'T USE THE PURGE-VAC. DECISION WAS MADE AMONG MECHS NOT TO USE HIGH PRESSURE SOURCE; SINCE MACHINE AT ZZZ IS DIFFERENT FROM THAT DESCRIBED IN GN/MM AND LACK OF TRAINING ON HIGH PRESSURE SVC UNIT. MANUALS ARE ALSO CONFUSING IN THAT THE DIFFERENT WAYS OF SVCING ARE SEPARATED BY 16 PAGES (PRESSURE AND LOW PRESSURE FILL). THIS POOR MANUAL CREATED AN ORIGINAL RETURN TO THE FIELD AND ANOTHER SVC WITH INCORRECT FLUID. I FEEL BOTH COULD HAVE BEEN PREVENTED WITH PROPER PAPERWORK AND BETTER TRAINING AND PROPER TOOLING.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.