Maintenance Airframe; Maintenance Powerplant
Communication Breakdown; Confusion; Situational Awareness; Training / Qualification
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Maintenance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; General Maintenance Action
Company Policy; Aircraft; Human Factors; Procedure
Shortly after leaving the break room after the morning shift briefing myself and the other lead were talking just outside of the break room doors and I noticed a crew who I thought were jacking Aircraft X as you could hear one or many of the jacks pumping with the air hoses attached.  I saw two techs at each main gear and one at the nose (from my view). I was looking for the jacking supervisor who should have been about 15-20 at the nose of the aircraft watching the aircraft being lowered or raised either way.  There could have been one at the right side of the nose as it would have been out of view.  As I started looking closer I noticed a person at each jack start turning the wing jack locks to the unlock position which told me they were lowering the aircraft but continued to hear the jacks pumping which was confusing as there should be no jacks pumping during the lowering process.  I then heard a horn/buzzing sound going off and realized it was coming from the tail stand.  I then immediately yelled 'STOP! STOP! STOP!' from across the hangar and they continued lowering for about 5 seconds after that until they realized what was going on.  Once they stopped I went to the tail of the aircraft and noticed the wrinkled skin and also noticed that the tail stand was in the wrong location as it should have been about three inches forward. The lack of care from the crew involved is concerning.Was leaving the break room after shift briefing and noticed the aircraft being lowered onto the tail stand while the buzzer on the tail stand was going off.I feel the cause was due to lack of assertiveness and a lack of communication. I am not sure what led up to this event as I was not present until the event happened. A lack of use of the manual is a cause as well as the damage may not of happened if the tail stand was in the wrong location.I yelled across the hangar telling the jacking crew to stop stop stop!!! I was upset and kept shaking my head and asking how and why this happened as a similar event had just happened a company is considering making the recommendation that the tail stands with the buzzers be placed at each base.I recommend that we strongly consider a tech at the tail area when jacking and lowering of the aircraft.  Also there should be a briefing and a walk around performed prior to raising and lowering of the aircraft.
Maintenance Lead on CRJ-200 observed improper aircraft jacking procedures during maintenance visit.