Narrative:

One night; I was assigned to perform a service check on a B737-900 aircraft. I followed the service check task card and completed the aircraft walk around. That morning when the first shift mechanics were preparing to take an airplane to the gate they found a shredded glove behind the number one engine; first stage compressor. I honestly cannot explain how I missed that glove. I performed the engine inlet inspection as directed. I looked from the aft of the engine and from the front of the engine. One possible explanation is that maybe [I] focused too much on finding nicks on the edges of the engine blades and not enough on looking behind the blades. Usually I do make sure to find an angle to be able to see behind the blades; but I might not have done that in this case. A small piece of the glove was found in front of the compressor lying in the inlet. When I inspect the inlet I point the flashlight flat on the inlet; looking for indentations in the inlet. Maybe that is not the best angle to shine the light to see a piece of glove in the dark at night. I did perform the task. I did not rush through it. I think that the documentation for the work performed that night will show that I was trying to be very thorough and I found enough discrepancies to keep me busy most of the night. Human error and poor light. Glove was presented to supervision and maintenance action was taken.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: After performing a Service Check during the night on a B737-900 aircraft; a hangar Mechanic reports dayshift mechanics informed him they had found a shredded glove behind the Number One engine First Stage compressor.

Narrative: One night; I was assigned to perform a Service Check on a B737-900 aircraft. I followed the Service Check Task Card and completed the aircraft walk around. That morning when the first shift mechanics were preparing to take an airplane to the gate they found a shredded glove behind the number one engine; first stage compressor. I honestly cannot explain how I missed that glove. I performed the engine inlet inspection as directed. I looked from the aft of the engine and from the front of the engine. One possible explanation is that maybe [I] focused too much on finding nicks on the edges of the engine blades and not enough on looking behind the blades. Usually I do make sure to find an angle to be able to see behind the blades; but I might not have done that in this case. A small piece of the glove was found in front of the compressor lying in the inlet. When I inspect the inlet I point the flashlight flat on the inlet; looking for indentations in the inlet. Maybe that is not the best angle to shine the light to see a piece of glove in the dark at night. I did perform the task. I did not rush through it. I think that the documentation for the work performed that night will show that I was trying to be very thorough and I found enough discrepancies to keep me busy most of the night. Human error and poor light. Glove was presented to Supervision and maintenance action was taken.

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.