Narrative:

We had a passenger cut her leg while exiting her seat. Her leg appeared to have been cut by a sharp piece of metal protruding from the arm of the seat-back tray. The flight attendant's treated her injury through the use of the emk (emergency medical kit). I entered the emk and the seat-tray defect in the logbook; and called maintenance (aircraft was a terminator). Maintenance control instructed me to find an agent; and get some bag tape; and fix the tray; and put it on a non-essential item deferral. I informed him that I'm not a mechanic; and this seemed like a job for an a&P mechanic. He said to me; very angrily and sarcastically; 'well; captain; if you're not going to do it; you just go to your hotel; then. I'll have to pay $400 for contract maintenance to come out and fix it; but don't you worry about that; captain; you just go to your hotel.' when I asked him what he wanted to do about the emk did he want me to MEL that open item; he responded again; very sarcastically; 'no; since I'll be paying him $400 to come out there to put some tape on a tray table; I'll have him clear that MEL; too. You just go to your hotel; captain.'an event occurred because it became obvious that maintenance control is under such pressure to avoid calling for contract maintenance at an outstation; that they are actively pressuring pilots to perform maintenance work; and are using the exact dollar amount it will cost for the repair to coerce the pilot to do the work. The event occurred because maintenance control was obviously angry that they would have to call for contract maintenance at an outstation; and wanted to pressure the pilot to perform what seems to me to be an unapproved procedure by an unqualified person; all in order to save $400. Re-establish a culture of 'safety first'; which will not be quick; nor easy. I believe we truly had a culture of 'safety first'; when I arrived here; but over time; this has given way to a focus on cost and schedule. Why we don't have our own maintenance at busy outstations is not a question for me to answer; but I have personally witnessed what appears to me to be a continual degradation of the willingness of maintenance control to address; find and fix problems; especially at outstations; and a shifting of priority from safety first; to cost and schedule first. It seems to me that; if left unchecked; this dangerous shift of priorities will continue unabated; and the result is predictable; terrible; and preventable.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 Captain entered two cabin items in the aircraft log at an outstation and was admonished by a Maintenance Controller for not being willing to take care of them himself and incurring the expense of a contract mechanic.

Narrative: We had a passenger cut her leg while exiting her seat. Her leg appeared to have been cut by a sharp piece of metal protruding from the arm of the seat-back tray. The Flight Attendant's treated her injury through the use of the EMK (Emergency Medical Kit). I entered the EMK and the seat-tray defect in the logbook; and called maintenance (aircraft was a terminator). Maintenance Control instructed me to find an Agent; and get some bag tape; and fix the tray; and put it on a non-essential item deferral. I informed him that I'm not a mechanic; and this seemed like a job for an A&P mechanic. He said to me; very angrily and sarcastically; 'Well; Captain; if you're not going to do it; you just go to your hotel; then. I'll have to pay $400 for Contract Maintenance to come out and fix it; but don't you worry about that; Captain; you just go to your hotel.' When I asked him what he wanted to do about the EMK did he want me to MEL that open item; he responded again; very sarcastically; 'No; since I'll be paying him $400 to come out there to put some tape on a tray table; I'll have him clear that MEL; too. You just go to your hotel; Captain.'An event occurred because it became obvious that Maintenance Control is under such pressure to avoid calling for Contract Maintenance at an outstation; that they are actively pressuring pilots to perform Maintenance work; and are using the exact dollar amount it will cost for the repair to coerce the pilot to do the work. The event occurred because Maintenance Control was obviously angry that they would have to call for Contract Maintenance at an outstation; and wanted to pressure the pilot to perform what seems to me to be an unapproved procedure by an unqualified person; all in order to save $400. Re-establish a culture of 'Safety First'; which will not be quick; nor easy. I believe we truly had a culture of 'Safety First'; when I arrived here; but over time; this has given way to a focus on cost and schedule. Why we don't have our own Maintenance at busy outstations is not a question for me to answer; but I have personally witnessed what appears to me to be a continual degradation of the willingness of Maintenance Control to address; find and fix problems; especially at outstations; and a shifting of priority from Safety first; to Cost and Schedule first. It seems to me that; if left unchecked; this dangerous shift of priorities will continue unabated; and the result is predictable; terrible; and preventable.

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.