Narrative:

I was assisting a technician on a gate call. An emb-190 had a pitch trim backup fault message. We troubleshot and replaced a trim control panel. I was in contact with maintenance control and since I was not CAT qualified; and there were no CAT qualified technicians available I was told to 'downgrade' the aircraft. I did so under the direction of maintenance control. I only made one logbook entry. If this was actually a required 'downgrade'; for the example we had; there would have been three entries required. I was contacted by my manager; talked to quality assurance (qa); and we concurred that the aircraft should never had been 'downgraded.' reference our procedures manual for CAT critical system repaired immediately with non-CAT critical component (using logbook example). If there is a logbook discrepancy with any of the CAT critical systems and the problem is immediately repaired by replacing; swapping or re-racking a component that is not a CAT critical component and the aircraft is not presently in a 'downgrade' status; the following must occur to keep the aircraft at the full CAT status: (a) complete a satisfactory job card or amm operational check of the component. The work and logbook signing may be accomplished by our mechanic or a maintenance control authorized mechanic. A CAT certification test is not required. (B) installation and rigging/adjustment requirements must be in accordance with maintenance manual or job card procedures. (C) contact maintenance control who will review the log page entry and the history of the aircraft back to the date of the last CAT pla application to ensure there are no open CAT items. (D) the mechanic will review the logbook to ensure there are no open CAT items not yet entered into teh computer system. (East) the aircraft does not have to be 'downgraded' if there are no open CAT items. (F) one logbook entry will be made. This entry will state: 1) the name of the component and repair action taken. 2) a satisfactory operational check of that component was performed. 3) the aircraft remains at the current CAT status per the examples; including all E190s; 'per maintenance control; aircraft remains at CAT IIIa status.' human factors come into play here. I relied on maintenance control for direction and assumed I would be told how to correctly take care of the logbook. I talked with quality assurance (qa) and initiated this report. I also reviewed the procedures manual section as detailed above. Maybe I should have came in from the aircraft and researched the procedure manual for myself. Take time to review reference documentation.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Lead Line Mechanic reports that five months after he had 'downgraded' the CAT status of an EMB-190 aircraft for a pitch trim control panel change; he was informed that the 'downgrade' was not necessary.

Narrative: I was assisting a Technician on a gate call. An EMB-190 had a pitch trim backup fault message. We troubleshot and replaced a trim control panel. I was in contact with Maintenance Control and since I was not CAT qualified; and there were no CAT qualified technicians available I was told to 'downgrade' the aircraft. I did so under the direction of Maintenance Control. I only made one logbook entry. If this was actually a required 'downgrade'; for the example we had; there would have been three entries required. I was contacted by my Manager; talked to Quality Assurance (QA); and we concurred that the aircraft should never had been 'downgraded.' Reference our procedures manual for CAT critical system repaired immediately with Non-CAT critical component (using logbook example). If there is a logbook discrepancy with any of the CAT critical systems and the problem is immediately repaired by replacing; swapping or re-racking a component that is NOT a CAT critical component and the aircraft is not presently in a 'downgrade' status; the following must occur to keep the aircraft at the Full CAT Status: (a) Complete a satisfactory job card or AMM operational check of the component. The work and logbook signing may be accomplished by our Mechanic or a Maintenance Control Authorized Mechanic. A CAT Certification Test is not required. (b) Installation and rigging/adjustment requirements must be in accordance with Maintenance Manual or job card procedures. (c) Contact Maintenance Control who will review the log page entry and the history of the aircraft back to the date of the last CAT PLA application to ensure there are no open CAT items. (d) The Mechanic will review the logbook to ensure there are no open CAT items not yet entered into teh computer system. (e) The aircraft does not have to be 'downgraded' if there are no open CAT items. (f) One Logbook entry will be made. This entry will state: 1) The name of the component and repair action taken. 2) A satisfactory Operational Check of that component was performed. 3) The aircraft remains at the current CAT status per the examples; including all E190s; 'Per Maintenance Control; Aircraft remains at CAT IIIa Status.' Human factors come into play here. I relied on Maintenance Control for direction and assumed I would be told how to correctly take care of the Logbook. I talked with Quality Assurance (QA) and initiated this report. I also reviewed the procedures manual section as detailed above. Maybe I should have came in from the aircraft and researched the procedure manual for myself. Take time to review reference documentation.

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.