A mechanic working under supervision of another mechanic; reports he failed to reinstall a fork bolt...

Narrative:

After removing the nose wheel pants [fairings] under supervision of a mechanic who had previously done the work; we did not reinstall the fork bolt; which passes through the fork and strut together and also holds the wheel pants on. The reason for leaving it off was that with the wheel pants removed; the bolt was too large; and according to the cessna service manual; it was 'the bolt securing cover plate and fairing to strut.' I flew the airplane following maintenance without difficulty prior to returning the aircraft to service. After the flight; the aircraft was returned to service; but a later look at the illustrated parts catalog (ipc) showed that this bolt connects the fork and strut together in addition to the press fit of the fork and strut. The airplane was beginning its taxi to the runway when we called it back to the hangar and reinstalled the bolt. The fact that I checked the ipc after the maintenance [work] indicates that I failed to clear my doubts of the work I did. While I did follow the cessna service manual instructions; I should have been referencing the ipc along with the service manual before returning the aircraft to service. A contributing factor was the failure of the supervising mechanic to thoroughly check my work since this was my first time working on a nose wheel.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Mechanic working under supervision of another Mechanic; reports he failed to reinstall a fork bolt that secures the fork and strut assembly including the nose wheel pants on a Cessna 150 aircraft.

Narrative: After removing the nose wheel pants [fairings] under supervision of a Mechanic who had previously done the work; we did not reinstall the fork bolt; which passes through the fork and strut together and also holds the wheel pants on. The reason for leaving it off was that with the wheel pants removed; the bolt was too large; and according to the Cessna Service Manual; it was 'the bolt securing cover plate and fairing to strut.' I flew the airplane following Maintenance without difficulty prior to returning the aircraft to service. After the flight; the aircraft was returned to service; but a later look at the Illustrated Parts Catalog (IPC) showed that this bolt connects the fork and strut together in addition to the press fit of the fork and strut. The airplane was beginning its taxi to the runway when we called it back to the hangar and reinstalled the bolt. The fact that I checked the IPC after the Maintenance [work] indicates that I failed to clear my doubts of the work I did. While I did follow the Cessna Service Manual instructions; I should have been referencing the IPC along with the Service Manual before returning the aircraft to service. A contributing factor was the failure of the supervising Mechanic to thoroughly check my work since this was my first time working on a nose wheel.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1008830
Time
Date	201205
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Cessna 150
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Parked Taxi
Component
Aircraft Component	Nose Gear
Person 1
Function	Technician Trainee
Qualification	Maintenance Airframe Maintenance Powerplant
Experience	Maintenance Technician 2
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

A mechanic working under supervision of another mechanic; reports he failed to reinstall a fork bolt that secures the fork and strut assembly including the nose wheel pants on a cessna 150 aircraft.