B737-800
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Confusion; Situational Awareness; Communication Breakdown
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Maintenance
General Maintenance Action
Manuals; Human Factors; Aircraft; Procedure; Chart Or Publication
As I started my preflight duties in the cockpit; I noticed the 'A' hydraulic system quantity indicating 106%. A logbook entry was made and Maintenance notified. After Maintenance arrived at the jet; one of the Maintenance Technicians apologized that the previous Maintenance crew had not noticed the over-serviced hydraulic system and that they had not corrected the issue. He went on to explain that the over-serviced hydraulics should have been corrected prior to the Pre-Departure Checks being signed-off. After this comment was made; my First Officer began having second thoughts about an observation he made on the #1 engine and asked me if I would mind inspecting the #1 engine with him. After going outside and looking at the #1 engine; I noticed what appeared to be a nick and some white-gray streaking on the front of and behind the # 10 fan blade on engine # 1. Also; there was a white 'nick' on the #1 engine spinner dome so I instructed my First Officer to enter this information in the maintenance log and we called Maintenance back to the jet to address this issue. Maintenance came out and ultimately determined there was a piece of paper that had lodged in the #1 engine. The paper was removed; the fan blade cleaned; along with the engine spinner dome; and the maintenance log was signed-off. After observing both of these incidents on the same scheduled ETOPS flight; both of us began to have reservations as to whether our mechanics in this airport are doing the job that our Air Carrier pays them to do and properly inspecting our jets prior to ETOPS departures. This event was caused by Maintenance's failure to correct the above mentioned mechanical discrepancies prior to signing-off the ETOPS Pre-Departure Checks.
A B737-800 Captain describes his reservations as to whether company mechanics at one of their island airports are properly inspecting their aircraft prior to ETOPS departures. An overserviced 'A' system hydraulic reservoir quantity and 'nicks' on #1 engine fan blade and spinner dome had not been corrected or addressed.