B767-200
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Communication Breakdown; Distraction; Time Pressure; Situational Awareness; Workload
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General Flight Cancelled / Delayed; General Maintenance Action
Aircraft; Environment - Non Weather Related; Equipment / Tooling; Human Factors; Procedure
Flying B767-200 to ZZZ1 on Flight XXX; parked at M21. Flying with First Officer (FO). Arrived at aircraft with paper work [before dawn] local. FO was talking to Maintenance Control regarding the deferral of the Right (RHT) Thrust Reverser. FO was going through the MEL and was asking if the Right Reverser lever was supposed to be secured down and that there were two Orange collered Breakers on the overhead that were out. The Maintenance Controller got really smart with him when FO asked for Maintenance to come out. The Controller asked FO 'Well did you go out and crack the engine cowl to see if the pin was in Place' What? I could not believe this response. I got on the radio and said I want Maintenance out here NOW!!! Two mechanics came out; an older man and a younger one. The first thing out of the older Mechanic's mouth after we told him what was going on was. 'Well did you read the MEL' A real smart ass!! We questioned about the two orange breakers that were pulled. Evidently they were pulled at the previous station by that Mechanic during their deferral and he had turned the breaker collers backward. We pointed this out; the Mechanic told us we had no business pushing in breakers. I piped in and said that these orange breakers are part of our normal preflight. The younger Mechanic leaned over and told him [older Mechanic] that the two circuit breakers were improperly secured in this manner and proceeded to zip tie them. They then left. First Officer and I looked at each other and pulled the MEL out a second time to reaffirm the crews actions and light indication we should have. All was there; BUT the amber REV over the Right N1 gauge was visible. We called Maintenance back out. The same two fellows showed up. They investigated the light and cycled the reverser many time and it was working perfectly. The decision by Maintenance Control was to clear the item from deferral and return the aircraft back to CAT IIIB Status with NO action by the crew. Now keep in mind that with all this is going on we are preflighting and the Load Supervisor is throwing paper our way for the Cross Check. EXTREMELY BUSY time. Maintenance cleared the item and we called for engine start from a Cargo Operator's Ground Support. I DID NOT GET A REVISED RELEASE FOR I FORGOT and It did not affect ANY part of the flight NOR any performance. Keep this in mind!!! First Officer called for start and I got both engines started. The Maintenance truck with the older guy driving pulled up in FRONT OF THE #1 running engine. Thank GOD I saw this out of the corner of my eye. They hooked up the headset and said that they had to add something to the Logbook. This was now 90- minutes later; local [time]. I shut down the Left engine. The paper work was updated. Door closed; started # 1 and off we go. Half way to ZZZ1 I get a Commercial Radio patch from Dispatch. Dispatch informed me that the notation on the [Aircraft] Release for the Thrust Reverser need to be taken off and gave me her time and initials. Hey; fine no problem; I had honestly forgot. The next comment out of Dispatcher's mouth over Commercial Radio before GOD and the entire United States listening was. 'NOW AT LEAST YOU CAN BE LEGAL FOR THE LAST HALF OF THE FLIGHT.' What; are you kidding me? Dispatcher actually said that over the radio put both me and Dispatcher up for a violation. OMG!!!!! That is the reason for this report. Yes I should have gotten an Amended Release. I throw myself on the sword for that; for during all that CHAOS in ZZZ; I flat out forgot. The Revision again had NO effect on the flight for performance or aircraft capability; it was simply a notation change. BUT that should NOT have been broadcast OVER AN OPEN MIKE!!!!I realize that Maintenance is overworked. I can appreciate this; [but] at the same token know the crews are just as overworked and exhausted as well; holding this together to get the job done. There is NO excuse for the crews to be treated by Maintenance personnel in this instance OR anytime for that fact. We conveyed out concerns and Maintenance tried to blow us off. WE WERE RIGHT all along in this matter. We were NOT going with an amber REV light on. The problem is that mechanics are being funneled through Company X; a Contract Maintenance provider and after they get trained they leave because there is no incentive (Pay) to stay. There are NO experienced personal left and the ones that are staying a lot have attitude towards the crews who are the ones saving their bacon. This instance being a perfect example. Second: Proper usage of Commercial Radio as to what NOT to say on the radio that could get people violated. Yes; we all make mistakes; but needless comment can be damaging.
In short; the reason for this Report is we left the gate after an MEL item was cleared from the Log Book; however; failed to clear the item from the Dispatch Release. Dispatch contacted us in flight via Phone Patch with ZZZ2 Commercial Radio about 35 minutes into flight. The matter was taken care of and the Amendment was added to the Release. Unfortunately; before signing off with Commercial Radio; the Dispatcher then said; 'Well; at least you're legal for the rest of your flight.' The Captain turned to me in disbelief that the Dispatcher would say something like that over an open Commercial Radio frequency. We discussed the matter and decided to file our individual Reports. As with all such incidences the story is much more complicated. It started back on pre-flight with a MEL deferred Right Thrust Reverser that in my opinion; did not seem properly deferred from the evidence I saw.MEL Item 78-31-1A reads:(M) (O). One may be inoperative provided:a) Inoperative reverser is secured in forward thrust position; and b) Appropriate performance adjustments are applied.I saw no evidence that the reverser was secured in the Forward position. I pulled it up and it moved freely (no hydraulics on aircraft). In addition; the [Thrust Reverser] T/R CONT and T/R IND Circuit Breakers were pulled but retained their Orange collars; common to CB's that we routinely pull. They [CBs] were not pulled and zip tied. As a consequence I called Maintenance Control approximately [before dawn]. Our scheduled push time was [approximately] 45-minutes later. I explained my issue. The Maintenance Controller answer surprised me. He sarcastically said; 'well; did you open the T/R cowling and check the pin on preflight...'; obviously implying my question was invalid. The Captain had just walked into the cockpit and heard this response from Maintenance Control (MTC). I told MTC to Standby. The Captain immediately got on the radio and demanded a Maintenance crew be sent out. Instead of complying MTC replied; 'your First officer just cancelled it.' That became the atmosphere that we were operating in that morning. When the Maintenance crew arrived they showed up with an attitude. The Lead immediately wanted to know if I'd bothered to read the MEL and the associated Maintenance Procedures. I informed them we definitely had and to drop the 'Smart Ass' attitude. The Maintenance Second then pointed out the Circuit Breakers were improperly collared. While all this is occurring the Captain is dealing with the Load and the Cross Check. In addition; the Captain and I became uncomfortable with the direction things were headed. We read the MEL in detail and discovered we had an extra light not described in the MEL. We had the amber REV light above the N1 gauge indicating the Translating Ring was not locked closed. After much more trouble shooting it was determined the Thrust Reverser was operating and Operational (Ops) Checked normal. The decision was made to close the item in the Logbook. It was and we called for engine start. We started engines in the chocks at Spot M21 facing Taxiway S. As the Captain was about to taxi; the Maintenance Van drove back up in front of our running Left Engine and stopped the taxi and plugged the headset in at the nose wheel to inform us there was additional paperwork they had failed to complete. The Captain informed them he was going to shut down the [Left] engine to allow them to board. The jet [Aircraft] was put back in CAT-IIIB Status from CAT IIIA. Maintenance left and we continued the flight. Halfway through the flight; Dispatch called us as described above. We missed the clearing of the MEL item on the Dispatch paperwork. My above narrative does not fully describe the confusion Maintenance interjected into what should have been a mundane; easy fix.We need more cooperation with our Maintenance partners at Company X. Their unwillingness to field our questions seems to be the result of a lack of experienced personnel willing to work with the aircrews. Many times the aircrew needs to speak with a Maintenance representative in person to avoid long; unproductive discussions on the Maintenance radio frequency.
A Captain and First Officer described their negative experiences with mechanics and Maintenance Controller during a B767-200 Preflight Check and comments by a Dispatcher over Commercial Radio. The same Dispatcher also explained the limited resources for tracking Maintenance actions that do not alert Dispatchers to MEL changes that Maintenance Control initiates after their aircraft are airborne.