A maintenance controller; maintenance supervisor and a line mechanic report about their involvement ...

Narrative:

December 2011; an embraer jet aircraft had an inbound discrepancy [regarding] loud squeal coming from captain's windshield area. Maintenance was doing pressurization checks and retorqued the windshield. No help. Maintenance called me at maintenance control to report what had been done and asked if they could have MEL 21-18 issued so we would not loose the flight. I put maintenance on hold to talk to my equipment coordinator and dispatcher; inquiring if we could do a non-pressurized flight. They both agreed that a non-pressurized flight was ok as far as the weather was concerned. I then issued MEL 21-18. Maintenance deactivated the pressurization system and the aircraft departed. The event happened due to inexperience with company policies. I thought that deferring the next higher assembly was not an issue. We were trying to move a flight; but I did not feel any pressure from that. Suggest relying on the team concept that is put in place and ask more questions. Study the MEL's more to understand what can and cannot be done with each.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Maintenance Controller; Maintenance Supervisor and a Line Mechanic report about their involvement with the deferral of a Captain's forward windshield squeal on an Embraer aircraft; by deferring a functioning Pressurization System.

Narrative: December 2011; an Embraer jet aircraft had an inbound discrepancy [regarding] loud squeal coming from Captain's windshield area. Maintenance was doing Pressurization Checks and retorqued the windshield. No help. Maintenance called me at Maintenance Control to report what had been done and asked if they could have MEL 21-18 issued so we would not loose the flight. I put Maintenance on hold to talk to my Equipment Coordinator and Dispatcher; inquiring if we could do a non-pressurized flight. They both agreed that a non-pressurized flight was OK as far as the weather was concerned. I then issued MEL 21-18. Maintenance deactivated the Pressurization System and the aircraft departed. The event happened due to inexperience with company policies. I thought that deferring the next higher assembly was not an issue. We were trying to move a flight; but I did not feel any pressure from that. Suggest relying on the TEAM concept that is put in place and ask more questions. Study the MEL's more to understand what can and cannot be done with each.

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	983518
Time
Date	201112
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Embraer Jet Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Component
Aircraft Component	Cockpit Window
Person 1
Function	Other / Unknown
Qualification	Maintenance Airframe Maintenance Powerplant
Person 2
Function	Other / Unknown
Qualification	Maintenance Powerplant Maintenance Airframe
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural MEL

A maintenance controller; maintenance supervisor and a line mechanic report about their involvement with the deferral of a captain's forward windshield squeal on an embraer aircraft; by deferring a functioning pressurization system.