During preflight; a B737-300 captain realized the standby rudder system would not operate because th...

Narrative:

I arrived at gate. I found on preflight that the standby rudder system would not work. I called my dispatcher and he connected me with maintenance control. I described what I had found and entered the write-up into the logbook. Maintenance control called for local maintenance to look at the problem. The mechanic started trouble shooting the system and found everything to be in order. We wondered why there was no power to the stand-by pump. We started looking for circuit breakers and found the 'stdby pump normal' and 'stdby pump alt' circuit breakers pulled and collared. We then reported this to maintenance control. They asked for time to look at the history on the airplane to make sure there was no reason for this. After a while; maintenance control called back and instructed the mechanic to reset the breakers and test the stand by rudder system. The stand by rudder tested fine; the write up was signed off and we departed with no problems. I have no idea why the breakers were collared. I do know that the stand by rudder system test can be missed if you are rushing. I flew the airplane the previous day with no problems. Never again will I miss a preflight test.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: During preflight; a B737-300 Captain realized the Standby Rudder System would not operate because there was no power to the Standby Hydraulic Pump. Circuit Breakers for the 'Standby Pump Normal' and 'Standby Pump Alternate (Alt)' had been pulled and collared without the proper documentation.

Narrative: I arrived at gate. I found on preflight that the standby rudder system would not work. I called my Dispatcher and he connected me with Maintenance Control. I described what I had found and entered the write-up into the logbook. Maintenance Control called for Local Maintenance to look at the problem. The Mechanic started trouble shooting the system and found everything to be in order. We wondered why there was no power to the Stand-by Pump. We started looking for circuit breakers and found the 'stdby pump normal' and 'stdby pump alt' circuit breakers pulled and collared. We then reported this to Maintenance Control. They asked for time to look at the history on the airplane to make sure there was no reason for this. After a while; Maintenance Control called back and instructed the Mechanic to reset the breakers and test the stand by rudder system. The stand by rudder tested fine; the write up was signed off and we departed with no problems. I have no idea why the breakers were collared. I do know that the stand by rudder system test can be missed if you are rushing. I flew the airplane the previous day with no problems. Never again will I miss a preflight test.

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	971810
Time
Date	201109
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-300
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Component
Aircraft Component	Rudder Control System
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural Maintenance

During preflight; a B737-300 captain realized the standby rudder system would not operate because there was no power to the standby hydraulic pump. Circuit breakers for the 'standby pump normal' and 'standby pump alternate (alt)' had been pulled and collared without the proper documentation.