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A B737-700 flight crew report discovering a significant gap where the forward vertical stabilizer attaches to the dorsal fin during the preflight inspection. The aircraft is refused; but another crew is assigned to fly it and eventually agrees to do so. A report from the first officer of the crew that accepted the aircraft is also included.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1180551 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201406 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | B737-700 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Parked |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | Stabilizer Fairing |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | First Officer |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 139 |
| Person 2 | |
| Function | Captain |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 150 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Maintenance Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown |
Narrative:
The captain and I were re-routed to fly an airplane that a crew had refused to fly due to a known and documented manufacturing situation regarding a fairing upstream of the vertical stabilizer. Both the captain and I conferred with maintenance and dispatch and were satisfied the aircraft was airworthy; in fact; we had flown the aircraft in and had swapped out of it. Short story is that in all the busy work that ensued; the captain missed the fact that the previous captain's name was on the load sheet. The aircraft; tail number; and release amendment were correct. I usually double check that the 'lower right corner' of the load sheet is correct but was working pretty hard to get the folks on their way and missed my back-up flow. Both of us first day off of vacation; both of us first day ipad users; previous leg required med-link; I did the pre-flight including a visual inspection of the area in question via air-stairs; set up the cockpit; did my normal duties; briefed anxious and concerned folks after a lengthy delay and a crew change; queried the gate agents as to our further delay (passenger reconciliation); coordinated with dispatch via ACARS. Needless to say; a one armed paper hanger. I do have procedures I follow to back up mistakes on the load sheet but I was 'in the yellow' for quite some time at the gate. I caught the mistake once airborne. I am at a loss as to why or how one name can appear on the release; and another on the load sheet. Do these systems not talk to each other? (Rhetorical question; but a valid one) this should not be physically possible. It is a crew 'get in trouble' preventable problem. Let's fix this. Captain should have caught it; my back-up should have caught it; but frankly; this should not be even possible with millions of dollars worth of computing power behind us. Is it possible to print one with the wrong tail number? The wrong aircraft type?? I hope not. Again; if so; let's fix that too.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A B737-700 flight crew report discovering a significant gap where the forward vertical stabilizer attaches to the dorsal fin during the preflight inspection. The aircraft is refused; but another crew is assigned to fly it and eventually agrees to do so. A report from the First Officer of the crew that accepted the aircraft is also included.
Narrative: The Captain and I were re-routed to fly an airplane that a crew had refused to fly due to a known and documented manufacturing situation regarding a fairing upstream of the vertical stabilizer. Both the Captain and I conferred with Maintenance and Dispatch and were satisfied the aircraft was airworthy; in fact; we had flown the aircraft in and had swapped out of it. Short story is that in all the busy work that ensued; the Captain missed the fact that the previous Captain's name was on the load sheet. The aircraft; tail number; and release amendment were correct. I usually double check that the 'lower right corner' of the load sheet is correct but was working pretty hard to get the folks on their way and missed my back-up flow. Both of us first day off of vacation; both of us first day iPad users; previous leg required Med-Link; I did the pre-flight including a visual inspection of the area in question via air-stairs; set up the cockpit; did my normal duties; briefed anxious and concerned folks after a lengthy delay and a crew change; queried the gate agents as to our further delay (passenger reconciliation); coordinated with Dispatch via ACARS. Needless to say; a one armed paper hanger. I do have procedures I follow to back up mistakes on the load sheet but I was 'in the yellow' for quite some time at the gate. I caught the mistake once airborne. I am at a loss as to why or how one name can appear on the release; and another on the load sheet. Do these systems not talk to each other? (Rhetorical question; but a valid one) This should not be physically possible. It is a crew 'get in trouble' preventable problem. Let's fix this. Captain should have caught it; my back-up should have caught it; but frankly; this should not be even possible with millions of dollars worth of computing power behind us. Is it possible to print one with the wrong tail number? The wrong aircraft type?? I hope not. Again; if so; let's fix that too.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.