B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe
General Maintenance Action
Aircraft; Company Policy
It has come to my attention that the 737 pilots are being told to not write up engine leaks and to push off the gate and start the leaking engine and let the gate crew determine if the engine stopped leaking. This by passes a wide range of Maintenance Manual and other procedures. Aircraft X pushed off the gate the Captain requested the ground crew that pushed off determine if the engine stopped leaking they refused the Aircraft ground interrupted and came back to the gate were it was properly trouble shot and returned to service. A quote out of the B737 operating states 'If a fluid leak (other than a continuous stream) from any of the engine drains is discovered during the Exterior Inspection; the engine can be started.'I as an Aircraft Mechanic I have a hard time believing that someone untrained and who did not follow Maintenance Manual procedures is able to determine what type of fluid is leaking and were it is leaking from and what the leak limits are. A lot of times the only way to determine what drain is leaking is to open the engine cowls.' As required by 14 CFR 121.563 all discrepancies discovered by the flight crew shall be entered in the Aircraft Maintenance Logbook (AML) by the flight crew.' There are a lot of dangerous situations that can occur by not checking out a fluid leak endangering both passengers and flight crews; ground crews and Maintenance crews by starting a leaking engine.
Ground operations employee reported that Boeing 737 flight crews are told not to write up engine leaks.