Regional Jet 900 (CRJ900)
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Time Pressure; Troubleshooting; Communication Breakdown; Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Maintenance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General Release Refused / Aircraft Not Accepted; General Maintenance Action
Aircraft; Human Factors; Procedure
During boarding; a Ramp Agent advised my First Officer that the aft cargo L/H blow out panel was sticking out of its containment grate and my Flight Attendant 1 found part of the forward lav's upper track guide screw (bolt) which had fallen off the door. So; I wrote up aft cargo door L/H blowout panel and FWD LAV upper track guide screw which was broken in half. Maintenance arrived and began to thoughtfully address the issues. I was informed by a Line Mechanic that the blow out panel was missing 3 of 4 fasteners and they were checking on if they had another panel in stock. Shortly after that; a Maintenance Foreman or Supervisor showed up and said we're all good; everything is being signed off. I didn't see the new part arrive; so I asked the Foreman if they had brought and installed a new panel. He said; 'Yes; we installed the new panel and you're good to go.' When I later spoke with the Line Mechanic who actually did the work; he said they had not installed a new part; but had just taped in the old one. So; I found the Foreman and explained to him what was wrong with the old panel (3 missing fasteners) and that reinstalling it wasn't solving the problem. At that point; his story changed and he said they had found the fasteners in the cargo bay and reinstalled them into the panel before taping it up; so once again we are good to go! Then; he left. The remaining line mechanics were completing the paper work for the LAV door repair when I told the one who had done the work in the cargo how fortunate it was that they had found the 3 missing panel fasteners to which he looked befuddled and told me they hadn't found or installed any new fasteners; just taped in the old panel. He said that was why he refused to do the sign off on that job... so the Foreman signed it off. I called Maintenance Control and asked for Maintenance to reinspect the panel and was told they would do so and then 'rub your belly'. When Maintenance arrived to reinspect the panel; I was present when he removed the tape and panel which was still missing 3 of its 4 required ball-bearing fasteners. A new panel was ordered and another write-up was requested; which I did. During the delay; passengers were receiving regular updates and provided a water service. I had also tried to arrange regress to those who wanted off to reset the ground delay clock; but the Station refused to allow only a few off - it had to be all or nothing. When the new panel was ordered I deplaned all of the passengers. The part arrived and was installed fairly quickly; so we re-boarded and were preparing to depart when someone attempted to use the forward LAV and the door fell off its upper track again. We found the upper track screw on the floor and it was the exact same dirty one that was broke in half prior to the first repair. For some unknown reason; the broken screw (bolt) was reinstalled on the LAV door; so I wrote it up again. Maintenance came out and determined a new part or whole new door would be required which they said would take at least an hour; so we deplaned all of the passengers a second time. After the new LAV door was installed; it did not fit well and was scraping metal on metal across the top of the door; making the door hard to open and close; so I asked them to adjust it. They tried; but in the end; said it was as good as it was going to get. The door did open and close just not easily which in my opinion; will probably lead to another upper track screw failure; but it was signed off; so we boarded and finally completed the flight after a 4 hour and 16 minute delay. There is no doubt in my mind that the Maintenance Foreman lied directly to my face multiple times regarding maintenance that was supposedly performed; that is not acceptable. It was an unsafe act that could have been the first link in the chain of an accident/incident had I not intervened. By trying to save an hour delay; he caused a 4+ hour delay. I was told that this push; push; push; go; go; go; get it out by whatever means possible pressure was common place for that Foreman. I am concerned that his concept of risk management allowed him to reinstall a known defective piece of safety equipment (the pressurization blowout panel); sign it off; and lie about it to the Captain. Do maintenance correct the first time. Don't falsify maintenance signoffs and don't lie to crew members about the condition of their aircraft.
CRJ-900 Captain reported the aircraft was refused because the corrective action taken and explanation by Maintenance was unacceptable.