A mechanic involved with building up and packing md-80 tailcone evacuation slides; reports he was no...

Narrative:

This is applicable to an MD80 tailcone evacuation slide. Was not provided packing tool as appropriate to pack slide assembly as per engineering order and related packing procedure. Was pressured by supervision/leadership to produce part in a timely manner based on their schedule. Suggestion: provide slide shop appropriate tool as per packing procedure. Callback conversation with reporter revealed the following information: reporter stated the packing tool covers and protects the aspirator inflation hose at the elbow to the inflation bottle. The tool is required to properly fold and pack the md-80 tailcone slide assemblies; during the slide folding procedure; as the slide pack is compressed. The inflation hose is a flexible type; but has a hard connection at the coupling and swivel elbow to the bottle. That is the weakest point during the slide buildup and they have since found some of the tailcone slides with broken hose couplings. Any tailcone slide with a broken hose coupling could not inflate. Reporter stated this was caused by not having the proper packing tool; which his supervisor said was not necessary; to perform the slide packing.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Mechanic involved with building up and packing MD-80 Tailcone Evacuation slides; reports he was not provided with a packing tool required to the pack slide assemblies; per their Engineering Order and Component Maintenance Manual.

Narrative: This is applicable to an MD80 Tailcone Evacuation Slide. Was not provided packing tool as appropriate to pack slide assembly as per Engineering Order and related packing procedure. Was pressured by supervision/leadership to produce part in a timely manner based on their schedule. Suggestion: Provide slide shop appropriate tool as per packing procedure. Callback conversation with Reporter revealed the following information: Reporter stated the packing tool covers and protects the aspirator inflation hose at the elbow to the inflation bottle. The tool is required to properly fold and pack the MD-80 tailcone slide assemblies; during the slide folding procedure; as the slide pack is compressed. The inflation hose is a flexible type; but has a hard connection at the coupling and swivel elbow to the bottle. That is the weakest point during the slide buildup and they have since found some of the tailcone slides with broken hose couplings. Any tailcone slide with a broken hose coupling could not inflate. Reporter stated this was caused by not having the proper packing tool; which his Supervisor said was not necessary; to perform the slide packing.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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	822594
Time
Date	200902
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	MD-80 Series (DC-9-80) Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Component
Aircraft Component	Escape Slide
Person 1
Function	Technician
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural Maintenance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural FAR

A mechanic involved with building up and packing md-80 tailcone evacuation slides; reports he was not provided with a packing tool required to the pack slide assemblies; per their engineering order and component maintenance manual.