Beech 1900
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Human-Machine Interface; Communication Breakdown
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural MEL / CDL; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
General Maintenance Action; General Release Refused / Aircraft Not Accepted
Human Factors; Procedure; Manuals; MEL
First a few prefatory remarks.  When the first officer was taking off on his leg the aircraft veered slightly to the left; which I helped him correct but attributed the mistake to him having less than 20 hours in the aircraft and a slight power split (more power on the right engine than the left) when he was setting the power. I helped him correct on center line and matched the torques and we continued the takeoff roll. He mentioned once we were airborne that he had to hold full right rudder to maintain center line. This was the first red flag.  Narrative: We had flown the aircraft in earlier in the day and; upon landing and taxi; I noticed that making a right turn using the rudder pedals was very difficult. Full right rudder resulted in going in a straight line. Left rudder input resulted in a normal left turn. I noted the discrepancy in the logbook and contacted maintenance control. We were swapped into another aircraft which we flew for the balance of that sequence; which ended back at the station where we had switched aircraft. Once there we were advised that we were swapping back into the original airplane. We gathered our things; went inside to get the paperwork and were shortly back out to the airplane. I reviewed the Corrective Action to the Discrepancy I noted earlier in the day and found the sign-off to be satisfactory. It said something along the lines of; 'Deferred per MEL; control #xxxx; due date xx/xx/xxxx; placard installed; Maintenance action accomplished.' I pulled out the MEL to read what the limitations were. The limitations were something like; 'No takeoffs/landings in crosswinds of greater than 22 knots. Captain must make all takeoffs and landings.' The maintenance action (M) stated something like; 'Pull and tie-wrap a circuit breaker and ensure the manual nosewheel steering actuator is all the way in the down (disconnected) position.' Having seen this specific MEL before; I knew what to look for. Just as I finished reading; the first officer came on board after finishing his preflight inspection. I asked him; 'Was the nosewheel steering actuator down or up?' To which he responded; 'Up.' That was another red flag. 'Okay;' I thought; 'I better have a look for myself; just to be sure.' Sure enough; it was in the up position; suggesting that the Maintenance action WAS NOT accomplished. This was a little infuriating; but the contract maintenance guys in CLE are new to the airplane and maybe it was an honest mistake on someone's part. When I called Maintenance Control a technician answered and I told him what the issue was and; just as he started to respond; another tech took the phone from him. So I repeated my concerns and asked him if I should write this up again--or how do we go about doing this? His response was; 'No; don't write it up again; we'll send someone out to fix it.' Well; that was the final red flag. Maintenance is going to work on the airplane but I'm not supposed to document it? That doesn't sound right. So I wrote it up again as follows: 'Manual nosewheel steering actuator not in the down position as per MEL 32-4.' Contract maintenance showed up and immediately went to work fixing the problem. We took a 49 minute delay and were on our way. The rest of the evening was uneventful. My whole point to report is: Maintenance must ensure they are actually completing the tasks required by the MEL before putting pen to paper. We rely on their expertise to maintain the aircraft; and finding maintenance specific tasks not completed but signed-off as completed does nothing but dissolve the trust we invest in them to keep us airworthy.Contract maintenance guys need to actually read the MEL; complete the task; re-read the MEL to ensure what they did jibes with what they're reading; and confirm with Maintenance Control what they did is correct. For the flight crews: Don't assume maintenance did what they're supposed to do; check their work (when feasible); ensure the (M) in MEL jibes with what you're seeing on the aircraft.
A BE1900 Captain expressed concern over the apparent failure of Contract Maintenance to perform the Maintenance actions required by an MEL allowing Dispatch with nose wheel steering deferred. Despite the fact the AML corrective action for the write up was signed off as accomplished the First Officer found the nose wheel steering actuator in the 'UP' position contrary to the MEL requirement.