A Captain reports about his refusal of a B757-200 aircraft during Pre-departure planning after inbound write-ups for an IDG light flashing on and off; followed by failure of the First Officer's FD; than internal airspeed bug; then green arc on Navigation display and finally electrical smell with smoke in the cockpit. Maintenance Supervisor did not want to address the smoke event.
Synopsis
A Captain reports about his refusal of a B757-200 aircraft during Pre-departure planning after inbound write-ups for an IDG light flashing on and off; followed by failure of the First Officer's FD; than internal airspeed bug; then green arc on Navigation display and finally electrical smell with smoke in the cockpit. Maintenance Supervisor did not want to address the smoke event.
Narrative
Aircraft to which (we were) assigned; arrived at gate in ZZZ with Write-ups concerning IDG light flashing on and off followed by failure of First Officer's position Flight Director (FD); then internal airspeed bug; then green arc on Navigation Display and finally an electrical smell with smoke in the cockpit. This could be assumed to be a cascading system failure. ZZZ Mechanics assigned to flight informed me they had been told to defer everything and get the aircraft out of town. Smoke event was not even to be addressed. I refused the aircraft which resulted in nothing less than just a plain old fashioned hissy fit on the part of the Maintenance Supervisor. Upon checking maintenance status of aircraft 2 days later; discovered the plane was grounded for 37 hours; returned to Line and then returned to blocks on first flight; then given a 1.5 hour Test flight with yet another notation of smoke in the cockpit. Issue with this report is ZZZ Maintenance SUPERVISORS; not Line Mechanics; trying to release back to the Line unsafe aircraft at any cost.
NASA callback
Reporter stated he still doesn't know what repairs may have been accomplished to address the recurring smell of smoke in the cockpit. The issue of having to refuse an aircraft at a Maintenance Base is disturbing enough; especially after the comments by company Station Mechanics telling him the smoke event experienced by the inbound Flight Crew was not to be addressed. But the behavior of the Line Maintenance Supervisor trying to release an unsafe aircraft back into service; while ignoring flight write-ups for electrical smell with smoke and possible cascading system failure involving the First Officer's Flight Director (FD) and the # 2 engine IDG light flashing was a greater concern. Reporter stated he believes a tremendous amount of company departure pressures are being applied to many Line Maintenance Supervisors; especially the younger or more recent Supervisors.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.