AN AIRLINE MECH LEAVES HIS FLASHLIGHT IN A COMPARTMENT IN A DH8 AFTER CHANGING A PROP SYNC CTL UNIT. 3 DAYS LATER THE ACFT IS RETURNED TO YYY ARPT WHEN SMOKE IS SMELLED ON THE ACFT.

Narrative

ON MAR/XA/98; ACFT ARRIVED IN ZZZ WITH A MINOR PROP SPD FLUCTUATION WHILE PROP SYNC WAS ACTIVATED. I PERFORMED AN INSPECTION OF ALL RELATED ITEMS TO THE SYS FOR PROPER RESISTANCE OF SENSORS; PROPER GAPS OF PICKUPS; AND GENERAL INTEGRITY OF THE SYS. NO DEFECTS OR DISCREPANCIES WERE FOUND AND LOGBOOK ENTRY WAS SIGNED OFF NOTING ALL ACTIONS TAKEN. APPROX 2 HRS LATER; THE MAINT SUPVR DECIDED THAT THE PROP SYNC CTL BOX SHOULD BE CHANGED AS A PRECAUTION. THIS CTL BOX IS LOCATED ON AN ELECTRICAL SHELF IN THE ACFT WARDROBE. ALL OTHER MAINT ON THE ACFT WAS COMPLETED AND THIS REPLACEMENT WAS THE LAST TASK ASSIGNED. TIME WAS APPROX AB00. LIGHTING IN THE WARDROBE IS MINIMAL SO I PLACED MY FLASHLIGHT ON A LEDGE TO ALLOW ME TO SEE MY WORK. I REMOVED THE PROP SYNC CTL BOX AND; WITH HELP FROM A FELLOW MECH; INSTALLED THE NEW BOX. UPON COMPLETION OF THE TASK; I MADE ANOTHER ENTRY INTO THE LOGBOOK REFLECTING WHAT HAD BEEN DONE AND CLOSED UP THE WORK AREA. I WAS THEN ASSIGNED TO ANOTHER ACFT TO REPOS THIS OTHER ACFT TO THE GATE. AT APPROX AC00 ACFT WAS PULLED FROM THE HANGAR AND TAXIED TO THE TERMINAL WHERE IT WAS LATER PUT INTO SVC. THREE DAYS LATER; AN ELECTRICAL BURNING SMELL WAS NOTED BY CREW COMING FROM THE WARDROBE DURING TKOF FROM YYY. AN AIR TURNBACK WAS INITIATED AND MAINT WAS CALLED TO CHK THE ACFT. MY FLASHLIGHT WAS FOUND CONTACTING A RELAY AND SHORTING TO A FLOOR PANEL IN THE WARDROBE. BOTH THE RELAY AND PANEL WERE REPLACED AND NO OTHER DAMAGE FOUND. ACFT TOOK APPROX 6 DELAYS/CANCELLATIONS. I BELIEVE THE 2 GREATEST CONTRIBUTING FACTORS TO THIS ERROR WERE FATIGUE AND LACK OF TOOL CTL. I ALSO BELIEVE THE IDEA OF 'LAST MIN' MAINT HELPED TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE PROB BECAUSE AT THAT TIME OF THE DAY WE ARE WINDING DOWN FROM THE WORK AND PREPARING TO COMPLETE ALL TASKS AND TAKE THE ACFT TO THE GATE AREA.