Cessna 337 Super Skymaster
Maintenance Airframe; Maintenance Powerplant
Maintenance Technician 3
Distraction; Communication Breakdown; Time Pressure; Workload; Fatigue; Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR
General Maintenance Action
Incorrect / Not Installed / Unavailable Part; Human Factors; Aircraft; Environment - Non Weather Related
At the beginning of the contract I reluctantly verbally agreed to a reduction of my rate for a specific number of tasks and a specific period of time as I really needed the work. As the work progressed the customer kept adding extra jobs to the list; but the time to complete remained the same; also the customer continually reminded me that money was very tight and I should always choose the least expensive option regardless of time indeed; further to that he insisted that he would handle all purchase decisions personally and approve each purchase; this considerably lengthened the completion time. Indeed; I knew within a month of commencement that the completion date was physically impossible for one Mechanic; however; I failed to confront him on this matter as I was intimidated with his manner. Indeed; some conversations consisted of him shouting at me over the phone and all discussions about the project consisted of him talking and me listening.  I failed to retain control of the scope and nature of the repairs and quickly became extremely stressed and physically sick over the pressure placed upon me. Upon beginning work on the plane and engine; I discovered multiple problems and work signed-off as Airworthy which was obviously not. The customer explained to me that he has a relative who has an Inspection Authority (IA) rating who is happy to work for $20 an hour for him and who has been responsible for his plane in the past and that this person said the particular repair in question was Airworthy. I had to add these 'repairs' to my list of I had to 'fix' these repairs. The nature and scope of the project kept expanding with contrary instructions sometimes issued daily with the consequence of the project falling further and further behind. During the course of the project I had received over 300 instructions. Multiple times the project details were verbally changed or amended. I found myself spending inordinate amounts of time in the office on the phone and internet and unable to undertake physical work on the plane. Finally; when the required completion day was five days away; he arrived at my Shop completely unannounced and informed me that he was now taking control of the project and literally camped outside my hangar entrance in his car and used my Shop and office as his own. He has admitted to removing paperwork and items without my knowledge from my shop. With his arrival and scrutiny; I felt even more pressure to complete my obligation to him to the point that in those last four days; I worked almost 55-hours without any sleep; knowing now that because of the situation I would not be getting paid.  Anyway; it was under these circumstances and conditions that I rushed to try to finish the project; I failed to inspect the engine cylinder assemblies for correct configuration and assembly before installing them onto the plane.  I failed to personally supervise unlicensed personnel that worked on the plane in my Shop and I had to correct several issues which further slowed me down. I agreed to install some quickly obtainable; but experimental Push-Pull Control cables. I installed unapproved Stainless Steel (SS) fasteners on the front engine case join; as I could not wait for the AN bolts and nuts to arrive. I had previously researched the tensile strength of Grade 8; AN fasteners at 120;000 LBS tensile strength and installed SS-316 fasteners with a tensile strength of 170;000 LBS instead; as I was exceeding the tensile strength specification I reasoned it was acceptable. When the completion day arrived and the plane was still not ready; he made arrangements to borrow a plane from another Maintenance facility at the airport for his trip abroad and informed me on the same day that as part of that agreement he was removing his plane immediately from my Shop and handing the project over to them. The plane was towed from my Shop an hour later. I attempted to put together a listing of outstanding items for the other Maintenance Shop but again; as I was rushed; this list was incomplete. I attempted to correct it when I remembered other items. However; as Work Order reference paperwork had been removed from my Shop; I was not able to reference much documentation and had to create the entries and lists from memory as far as possible. I was then again pressured over the period of the next days into rushing the logbook entries; as the new Maintenance Shop would not proceed without them and I have unintentionally missed or incorrectly entered several items in those entries.
Reporter stated he has only three years of maintenance experience. He was informed by his co-worker; who was an IA rated Inspector; that he (reporter) had been taken advantage of by the owner of the Cessna-337B aircraft. The stealing of his Maintenance documents that had detailed his findings about previous improper maintenance work that had been accomplished on the Cessna 337B and signed-off by the owner's so-called 'relative'; made his trail of record keeping very difficult.
An Aircraft Maintenance Technician (AMT) describes how he failed to retain control of the scope and nature of repairs that he had agreed to perform on a Cessna 337B aircraft and IO-360D engine. Reporter felt intimidated by the aircraft's owner who kept expanding the repair list but not extending the time required to properly accomplish the work.