 |
37000 Feet | Browse and search NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System |
|
A mechanic reports an upper deck safety rail broke in two spots when he leaned against the steel supports on an air-stairs passenger loading truck used for entering and exiting a B757-200 aircraft. Numerous other sections of the railings were broken or had 'cold' welds that were not safe.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 996652 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201202 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0001-0600 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Light | Night |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | No Aircraft |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Technician |
| Qualification | Maintenance Airframe Maintenance Powerplant |
| Experience | Maintenance Technician 29 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Deviation - Procedural Maintenance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy |
Narrative:
The left upper deck safety rail broke in two spots when I leaned against it. Upon further inspection I found one more broken weld; the reason they broke was due to cold welds. I found five more cold welds on both the right and left railings. The two welds that broke appeared to have been recently done; but the rest seemed much older. This suggests that this has been going on for awhile and there may be many other unsafe welds on other pieces of equipment. Safety rails on lift trucks; jlg's; de-icing trucks; etc...I informed hangar supervisors and I tagged the vehicle and brought it to the ground equipment shop. I also showed the midnight ground equipment lead the welds. I suggested that whoever is doing these welds should stop immediately until he learns how to weld and gets certified.I would suggest that only certified welders repair our equipment. I also think they should check the ground equipment safety features (hand rail lift trucks etc…) for more bad welds.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A Mechanic reports an upper deck safety rail broke in two spots when he leaned against the steel supports on an Air-Stairs passenger loading truck used for entering and exiting a B757-200 aircraft. Numerous other sections of the railings were broken or had 'cold' welds that were not safe.
Narrative: The left upper deck safety rail broke in two spots when I leaned against it. Upon further inspection I found one more broken weld; the reason they broke was due to cold welds. I found five more cold welds on both the right and left railings. The two welds that broke appeared to have been recently done; but the rest seemed much older. This suggests that this has been going on for awhile and there may be many other unsafe welds on other pieces of equipment. Safety rails on lift trucks; JLG's; de-icing trucks; etc...I informed Hangar Supervisors and I tagged the vehicle and brought it to the Ground Equipment Shop. I also showed the Midnight Ground Equipment Lead the welds. I suggested that whoever is doing these welds should stop immediately until he learns how to weld and gets certified.I would suggest that only certified welders repair our equipment. I also think they should check the ground equipment safety features (hand rail lift trucks etc…) for more bad welds.
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.