Regional Jet 200 ER/LR (CRJ200)
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Maintenance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General Maintenance Action
Aircraft; Procedure
I'm not sure the best way to address this; so I figured I would write a report to document this event. On departure from ZZZ; the flap handle became momentarily stuck in the Flaps 20 detent. It required excessive; and unusual amounts of force to select the flaps from the takeoff setting of 20; to flaps 8 during the climb sequence. After landing I documented the maintenance irregularity per FOM Airworthiness procedures. The write up in the maintenance log I submitted was 'While selecting flaps from 20 to 8 on departure; flap handle sticks in the 20 position; requires excessive force to move to flaps 8.' I then left the aircraft in the care of the next crew. I explained to the Captain the Maintenance discrepancy. After getting home; and plugging my iPad in to charge; I happened to see the flight; and out of curiosity decided to review the Maintenance Log again to see what they did to address the discrepancy. In my professional opinion; an incorrect corrective action was applied. The Maintenance corrective action states. 'The CRJ-200 flap selector has a built in gate between flaps 8 and flaps 20 that requires the operator to depress the lever when passing the gate. This is normal operation. Ok for continued service.' This is not true however. There is a gate that prevents selecting flaps past 20; without depressing the flap handle during flap extension; and a gate at flaps 8 to prevent retraction past flaps 8 in the event of a go around and during normal climb flap retraction. There is not a need to depress the flap handle to move it from 20 to 8 during flap retraction however; as the corrective action states. According to the CRJ PRM (Pilot Reference Manual) for the CRJ-200; it states on page 9-18 'Two flap gates are incorporated within the flap lever quadrant. The forward gate at the 8-degree setting minimizes the possibly of accidental flap selection to 0 degrees during a go-around procedure. The rearward gate at the 20 degree setting; minimizes the risk of Vfe (Flaps 30) being exceeded.' I'm not sure how to address this further; but I do not believe this discrepancy was appropriately dealt with by our maintenance. Furthermore; I do not believe the mechanic that submitted this corrective action has a full and appropriate understanding of the CRJ flap handle mechanics and operation; and it might be appropriate to consider passing this information to Maintenance for a bulletin or some sort of 'heads up.' The CRJ-200 is sensitive to flap fail events; and this is a critical component to the flap system; it's important for it to work properly and without issue. We don't want the flap handle getting stuck between detents; or preventing a crew from selecting flaps 8 appropriately in the event of a go-around.Improper procedure applied by maintenance. Failure of maintenance personnel to fully understand the flap handle flight control system and operational mechanics. Most likely added pressure to get the next flight out on time.I would suggest first and foremost that this aircraft is pulled out of service; properly inspected; and fixed if necessary. The maintenance write up does not even say that the system was properly ops checked. It was very simply ignored by the maintenance personnel attending to the write up; and not properly inspected or checked. I believe that a maintenance bulletin describing the correct operation of the CRJ-200 flap handle and the flap gates would potentially help further the understanding of our maintenance personnel to be able to properly address this write up.
CRJ-200 Captain reported disagreement with maintenance over a flap control discrepancy.