A maintenance controller and his shift manager report about the confusion surrounding two MEL deferr...

Narrative:

My [maintenance] controller answered call on an aircraft that had a fault with the handset in the forward attendant position; aft [handset] was already on MEL. On-call maintenance got aft [handset] to work; cleared MEL. Applied MEL 23-43-02a as flight deck to cabin and cabin to flight deck was not working. Crew called back [noting] the forward flight attendant could not call the aft position [handset]; but public announcement (P/a) function was normal; placed on MEL 23-43-02b. After looking at the MEL; we are not sure if both mels can be applied or not. We looked at this after flight had departed. Looking back; we should have grounded the aircraft. Maintenance operations has been short staffed and we have gotten nights where two people on the desk is not enough; sometimes radios/phones go off [ring] the whole shift. We were very busy when this was happening. Maintenance control is short people. There were two trained maintenance controllers and one controller trainee. I; [as manager]; was busy with other calls and could not check what the maintenance operations coordinator was doing with the MEL on this aircraft. I have full confidence in the other controllers. The MEL should state whether you can place two different mels on for a similar problem.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Maintenance Controller and his shift Manager report about the confusion surrounding two MEL deferrals they had applied to the Forward and Aft Flight Attendant position handsets on an A319 aircraft.

Narrative: My [Maintenance] Controller answered call on an aircraft that had a fault with the handset in the forward attendant position; aft [handset] was already on MEL. On-call Maintenance got aft [handset] to work; cleared MEL. Applied MEL 23-43-02a as Flight Deck to Cabin and Cabin to Flight Deck was not working. Crew called back [noting] the Forward Flight Attendant could not call the aft position [handset]; but Public Announcement (P/A) function was normal; placed on MEL 23-43-02b. After looking at the MEL; we are not sure if both MELs can be applied or not. We looked at this after flight had departed. Looking back; we should have grounded the aircraft. Maintenance Operations has been short staffed and we have gotten nights where two people on the desk is not enough; sometimes radios/phones go off [ring] the whole shift. We were very busy when this was happening. Maintenance Control is short people. There were two trained Maintenance Controllers and one Controller trainee. I; [as Manager]; was busy with other calls and could not check what the Maintenance Operations Coordinator was doing with the MEL on this aircraft. I have full confidence in the other controllers. The MEL should state whether you can place two different MELs on for a similar problem.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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	988206
Time
Date	201201
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A319
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Component
Aircraft Component	Cabin Address System
Person 1
Function	Other / Unknown
Qualification	Maintenance Airframe Maintenance Powerplant
Person 2
Function	Other / Unknown
Qualification	Maintenance Airframe Maintenance Powerplant
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural MEL Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

A maintenance controller and his shift manager report about the confusion surrounding two MEL deferrals they had applied to the forward and aft flight attendant position handsets on an A319 aircraft.