A Contract Maintenance Manager for a repair station reports about an A319 that had diverted due to pressurization problems on an outbound flight after he had deferred and manually 'closed' the skin outlet valve [extract valve].
Synopsis
A Contract Maintenance Manager for a repair station reports about an A319 that had diverted due to pressurization problems on an outbound flight after he had deferred and manually 'closed' the skin outlet valve [extract valve].
Narrative
I am a Maintenance Manager for Company 'X'; a Line Maintenance Contractor at ZZZ. I handle On-call aircraft maintenance with airlines. Back in July 2010; I was called in for an air carrier A319 aircraft maintenance problem; flight crew stated that after switching ground power to APU power; ECAM has status message 'Avionics Smoke' and has previous writeups. Also found circuit breaker (C/B) D6 'Avionic Vent Control' was popped; resetting C/B did not help clear ECAM Status message. Further trouble shooting found C/B AA7 'Ext Pwr EGIU1 115vac' popped; reset same; still ECAM message would not clear. Under the direction of air carrier Maintenance Controller Mr.'Y' who was very helpful and guided me [through] the troubleshooting and Avionics Equipment Ventilation Computer(AEVC) test and [found] 'skin air outlet valve' at fault. Maintenance Control advised me to proceed with MEL 21-26-04 and perform maintenance procedures. Then; coming to work [a few days later]; I received a call from Mr.'Z'; air carrier Program Manager stating that the A319 aircraft that I had worked on was diverted to ZZZ1 due to pressurization problem occurred after taking off from ZZZ. I have verbally stated to Mr.'Z' that I did follow the MEL procedures under direction of Maintenance Controller Mr. 'Y'
NASA callback
Reporter stated the air carrier's MEL Maintenance Procedures require manually closing the skin outlet valve [extract valve] on the right side of the A319; forward of the forward cargo door. There is a small handle for the valve that is rotated clockwise on the external fuselage to close the skin outlet valve; the valve has a large door and a smaller door; the smaller door must remain slightly open when the larger door is closed. On some Airbus models; the handle must be rotated counter-clockwise. Reporter stated after closing the skin outlet valve (22HQ) he had to manually 'open' (move) the skin isolation valve (24HQ) to the 'O' position and disconnect the cannon plug for the valve. Than go to the cockpit; reset the avionics vent control D6 C/B and use the MCDU to perform a Centralized Fault Display System (CFDS) for the AEVC and make sure that only those two valves showed as faulted. There are no steps in the procedures to go to the ECAM Cabin Pressure page to visually check to see if the valves show one closed and and one open. He does not know if pilots have to check that ECAM Cabin Pressure page as part of their preflight; or if the crew that diverted had tried to use the cabin pressurization panel manual control switch when the pressurization problem began. Reporter stated the air carrier has submitted changes to their MEL Procedures to have the mechanic pull the D6 C/B prior to manually closing the skin outlet valve; a procedure other carriers already have in their manual. He has also been told that cracked ducting in the avionics ventilation system seem to be causing some of the avionics smoke messages.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.