B747-400
Communication Breakdown; Time Pressure
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General Work Refused
Aircraft; Procedure; Human Factors
At XA:40 I saw my assigned aircraft; taxi by on its way to assigned parking spot. The #8 brake was visibly red hot from over 100 feet away. It was still red hot when the aircraft parked and was chocked. I directed load; fueling and marshallers to stay away from the aircraft and explained to them why. I then went to the cockpit to brief the pilots about the danger. At XA:46 I called [AMT's Sup]; my supervisor; to inform him of the problem and ask his help in contacting other agencies and directing them to stay away from the plane. He said okay. About this time the load supervisor drove over and I told him of the problem and asked him to keep his people off the aircraft. Shortly after that [AMT's Sup] drove up. When [AMT's Sup] hopped out he immediately came to me and asked why I was keeping people from the plane. I told him that it had a hot brake and it was not safe to go near the plane. He asked me to show it to him and I pointed at the hot brake and gave him the number of the brake. My partner for that night; [Load Sup]; [AMT's Sup] and I were all at the nose of the plane. [AMT's Sup] then directed me to come with him and show him the hot brake and I refused. He became agitated and demanded that I come with him and show him the hot brake and I again refused citing the danger of hot brakes. He became further agitated and started yelling at me; moved into my personal zone and repeatedly pointed his finger at me demanding that I go with him to show him the hot brake. I again refused; then [AMT Partner] pulled him away and tried to talk to him. They were gone maybe 15 seconds then [AMT's Sup] came back to me like a homing missile and repeated his demand that I go into the unsafe area and show him the hot brake. When I refused again he threatened me with a hearing. I said okay; let's have the hearing; I'm not going into an area that I feel is unsafe. He then told me to go to the break room and await his appearance for the hearing. This was at XB:05 and he said he'd be there at XB:15. [AMT Partner] called me about XB:25 and said [AMT's Sup] wanted me back at the plane to work write-ups. I arrived there about XB:30 and people were unloading the jet and a fuel truck was parked under the wing next to the hot brake with its ground cable attached to the gear assembly with the hot brake on it. Boeing AMM 05-51-10-2-2-001 states not to even go near the hot brake for one hour. Whoever cleared the aircraft for work after I was banished from the area directly violated this safety precaution and endangered all who were then working on the plane because at the time of my return to the aircraft only 50 minutes had passed yet people were actively engaged in refueling and unloading operations; i.e. fuel truck positioned under the wing; K-loaders against aircraft and tugs pulling away dollies of freight.
A maintenance technician reported observing a Boeing 747-400 taxi in with a brake that was visibility hot. He was unable to keep personnel away from the aircraft for an hour as required per maintenance procedures due to a disagreement with the Supervisor.