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An aircraft maintenance technician reported about a potential safety risk and improper maintenance documentation practices after his lead and supervisor directed him to install a faulted and unserviceable gfi relay into a B747-400 aircraft that needed to be defueled for maintenance. Gfi was part of an airworthiness directive to disrupt electrical power to fuel pumps in a fuel tank.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1282992 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201507 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0601-1200 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | B747-400 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Parked |
| Aircraft 2 | |
| Make Model Name | B747-400 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Parked |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | Circuit Breaker / Fuse / Thermocouple |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Technician |
| Qualification | Maintenance Airframe |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural FAR Deviation - Procedural MEL |
Narrative:
We cannibalized [robbed] a gfi relay from aircraft X; a B747-400; for aircraft Y; another B747 without any trouble. After I had removed the relay from aircraft X; my lead told me to install the unserviceable relay from aircraft Y into aircraft X so that they could defuel the plane. We recently updated to the gfi system to comply with an airworthiness directive (ad) that is due august 2015. I voiced my thoughts which were that we shouldn't install an unserviceable part of any kind into the system to which my supervisor said to just do it so they can defuel the plane. After I refused to install it; it was tasked to someone else who installed it and then the maintenance went undocumented; and they preceded to defuel the tank. It has since been removed and sent out for repair and still went undocumented that it was ever installed on aircraft X.this is a massive safety risk due to the gfi system is meant to disrupt power to the fuel pump in the case of a load imbalance; lost [electrical] phase; etc that could possibly cause for an ignition source inside the fuel pump; within the tank. My lead claims its ok to do this because the plane is on the ground.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: An Aircraft Maintenance Technician reported about a potential safety risk and improper maintenance documentation practices after his Lead and Supervisor directed him to install a faulted and unserviceable GFI Relay into a B747-400 aircraft that needed to be defueled for maintenance. GFI was part of an airworthiness directive to disrupt electrical power to fuel pumps in a fuel tank.
Narrative: We Cannibalized [Robbed] a GFI relay from Aircraft X; a B747-400; for Aircraft Y; another B747 without any trouble. After I had removed the relay from Aircraft X; my Lead told me to install the unserviceable relay from Aircraft Y into Aircraft X so that they could defuel the plane. We recently updated to the GFI System to comply with an Airworthiness Directive (AD) that is due August 2015. I voiced my thoughts which were that we shouldn't install an unserviceable part of any kind into the system to which my Supervisor said to just do it so they can defuel the plane. After I refused to install it; it was tasked to someone else who installed it and then the maintenance went undocumented; and they preceded to defuel the tank. It has since been removed and sent out for repair and still went undocumented that it was ever installed on Aircraft X.This is a massive safety risk due to the GFI system is meant to disrupt power to the fuel pump in the case of a load imbalance; lost [electrical] phase; etc that could possibly cause for an ignition source inside the fuel pump; within the tank. My Lead claims its ok to do this because the plane is on the ground.
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.