B747 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness; Confusion; Human-Machine Interface; Communication Breakdown
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Maintenance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; General Release Refused / Aircraft Not Accepted
Company Policy; Procedure; Aircraft
My story starts the day before my flight. I was having breakfast and we were discussing his and another pilot's return to the blocks the day before in a specific aircraft. The other pilot described the EGT on number 3 engine was very erratic and they returned to the blocks. While we were eating; the two native mechanics joined us. I asked them about the aircraft. They told the other pilot and me that two EGT harnesses were broken and the parts were coming from another airport. They further stated that these parts had to be serviceable because a field repair was not allowed. This came up because of the curiosity of me not wanting to show in the middle of the night for no reason so I asked a lot of questions about this EGT system. So that night we were given a green that aircraft [was ready] for flight. The first indication that the aircraft was not properly repaired was a 'special' briefing that was given to the crew in the cockpit. This brief was given by a gray haired 50ish Mechanic. He stated that the aircraft was fixed but we would still notice erratic EGT indications but this should be considered normal because the part was not the same as the original part and he went into some detail about the digital vs. analog systems. Anyway all I got out of this brief was that the aircraft was not fixed and if it was fixed I was suppose to allow erratic EGT indications. We started the engines and number 3 was not acceptable. After all 4 were running we shut down number 3. Another engine start was demonstrated for the Mechanic on board. The engine was erratic and a different sound was observed by the entire crew. Even the on board Mechanic heard and didn't like the sound. The Captain reported the sound to the on headset Mechanic that we had an abnormal vacuum like sound. The Mechanic stated 'it sounds OK down here'. This is the most disturbing part on the report due the fact the ground handler stated to us that the engine never sounded right to him even on the first start. I don't know where the pressure to go fly no matter what comes from; but I definitely sensed it that night. The crew elected to stay on the aircraft and eat our delicious crew meals. When we departed the aircraft; one of the pilots made his statement about the sound of the aircraft. The mechanics were troubleshooting the aircraft. Then our Engineer noticed the EGT harness on the ground with red RTV on it. He asked; 'is that the harness from the number 2 engine and the Mechanic stated no it is the one shipped in; it arrived cracked so we field repaired it!!. I am not positive about this but I also believe it was stated that only one harness came in when 2 were required to fix the aircraft and sign it off! One sad thing to keep in mind is the fact that the person that signed this off was going to go fly with us and he didn't know about the work that was done. I have never in my 23 years flying saw this level of deception between a crew and Maintenance. The real problem here is where this pressure to fly this broken aircraft came from. Did we not learn from the same aircraft with the same engine blowing up in Europe? This engine sounded in distress to everyone in the cockpit and even to the ground handler but it was just fine to the Mechanic that was on the headset! I have to; and still do have faith that this was an isolated event and we as crews will continue to work together to keep the highest level of safety.
A B747 First Officer reported the aircraft was refused because the number 3 engine sounded strange and the EGT erratic even after Maintenance replaced the EGT harness and inspected the engine.