Upon noting door 3L did not indicate closed although the Flight Attendant felt it was; a B757 First Officer determined the door would not close properly and guarded it until maintenance verified it was faulty and needed maintenance attention.
Synopsis
Upon noting door 3L did not indicate closed although the Flight Attendant felt it was; a B757 First Officer determined the door would not close properly and guarded it until maintenance verified it was faulty and needed maintenance attention.
Narrative
I sent the First Officer back to check door with about one min to pushback. I was also armed as FFDO and elected to stay on flight deck with weapon and monitor radio and ground push crew. I received call from the First Officer telling me we had an issue with door and needed maintenance as soon as possible. I called and maintenance arrived within 10 minutes. I stayed on flight deck while maintenance worked issue. Initially they thought it might be easy fix; but updates revealed the problem with 3L was more complicated. The First Officer's quick assessment of door condition when trying to close handle undoubtedly prevented inadvertent slide deployment. I'm glad he was there at the door. After maintenance spent about 30 minutes working on door; I secured my weapon and went aft to get briefed. They told me there was clearly something seriously wrong with this door and the aircraft was out of service. I coordinated with dispatch and ops to get new aircraft. We departed 2+45 late. I elected to proceed with the flight sequence. If I had my hat; it would be off to my First Officer for quick thinking. My lesson learned from this incident is that in future I will never touch a door that is not showing properly closed; but will instead call maintenance. I will instruct my First Officer to do the same.
Second reporter narrative
Prior to doing push-back checklist; Captain noted door 3L indicated open on EICAS and overhead. As First Officer I was instructed to call aft Flight Attendant to find out status of door. Flight attendant said door was closed and armed with a green light. Captain instructed me to go to door 3L and determine status of door and cycle it if necessary. I called Purser and told her to disarm all doors. I went to 3L and observed that the handle was in the proper closed position; (3 o'clock); and the door was disarmed. I asked her to verify the door disarmed before I moved the handle. I moved the handle to the open position. I pushed the door slightly open; (about 2 inches); and then pulled it closed and then attempted to rotate the handle to the closed position in an attempt to re-seat the door and get a closed indication. However the handle would not move to the fully closed position; stopping at about the 2 o'clock position. I rotated the handle back left; and as I moved it; the arming lever moved to the armed position in sequence with the movement of the opening lever. The Flight Attendant and I both noticed this and I stopped movement of the lever and tried to rotate it back toward the closed position. It would not move past the 2 o'clock position and the arming lever would not move out of the armed position. I immediately told her to call the Captain and get Maintenance as quickly as possible. I held the lever in position until Maintenance arrived. Maintenance removed the slide cover and dislodged the apparently jammed girt bar.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.