BE1900 first officer discovers his display select panel on the center console was installed upside-d...

Narrative:

On descent the first officer noticed that the first officer's display select panel on the center console was installed upside-down. All aspects of the panel worked correctly but due to the upside-down installation; the button to set the decision height was on the top of the panel not the bottom. After discussing this with the captain; we determined that we would get a visual that night and we felt it was not a safety of flight issue. We continued to ZZZ which was about 15-20 miles away at this time and broke out about 4;500 ft AGL and landed without incident. Once on the ground we called the company's maintenance control and wrote it up and they had a mechanic come out and fix it. The flight to ZZZ is about 30 minutes and involves two VOR's and a heading of 258. Even though it was a visual approach company policy states we have to setup an approach at night. Due to the short flight and marginal use of the panel it was not noticed until setting decision height and finding the knob not in the usual place. Although it was not in the usual place it was fully functional and the approach was set up without any issue. Some reasons why it was not noticed earlier was due to a dark ramp; very little lighting upon the center console of the aircraft; the panel looking almost identical either way it is installed (only three small buttons on top not bottom); the first officer boarding passengers while the captain was setting up the flight deck; and lack of use on this flight as it was a short flight on a 258 heading with a straight in approach. Due to the short flight; visual approach; and ZZZ being our destination and closest airport at the time the issue was discovered we determined it was not a safety of flight issue and proceeded with a normal landing and had it fixed by a mechanic prior to the next flight.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: BE1900 First Officer discovers his Display Select Panel on the center console was installed upside-down during approach set up. The panel was fully functional and corrected by Maintenance after landing.

Narrative: On descent the First Officer noticed that the First Officer's Display Select Panel on the center console was installed upside-down. All aspects of the panel worked correctly but due to the upside-down installation; the button to set the decision height was on the top of the panel not the bottom. After discussing this with the Captain; we determined that we would get a visual that night and we felt it was not a safety of flight issue. We continued to ZZZ which was about 15-20 miles away at this time and broke out about 4;500 FT AGL and landed without incident. Once on the ground we called the company's Maintenance Control and wrote it up and they had a Mechanic come out and fix it. The flight to ZZZ is about 30 minutes and involves two VOR's and a heading of 258. Even though it was a visual approach company policy states we have to setup an approach at night. Due to the short flight and marginal use of the panel it was not noticed until setting decision height and finding the knob not in the usual place. Although it was not in the usual place it was fully functional and the approach was set up without any issue. Some reasons why it was not noticed earlier was due to a dark ramp; very little lighting upon the center console of the aircraft; the panel looking almost identical either way it is installed (only three small buttons on top not bottom); the First Officer boarding passengers while the Captain was setting up the flight deck; and lack of use on this flight as it was a short flight on a 258 heading with a straight in approach. Due to the short flight; visual approach; and ZZZ being our destination and closest airport at the time the issue was discovered we determined it was not a safety of flight issue and proceeded with a normal landing and had it fixed by a mechanic prior to the next flight.

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	1124344
Time
Date	201310
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	Marginal
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Beech 1900
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	Direct Visual Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Instrument and Control Panels
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 200 Flight Crew Total 2000 Flight Crew Type 1200
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

BE1900 first officer discovers his display select panel on the center console was installed upside-down during approach set up. The panel was fully functional and corrected by maintenance after landing.