B767-300 and 300 ER
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe
Aircraft Equipment Problem Dissipated; Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem; General Maintenance Action
Aircraft; Manuals; Procedure
We were tasked with a maintenance test flight to determine if repairs were successful with regards to repeated spurious Master Warnings for 'CONFIG' and 'FLAPS' in the post-takeoff/initial climb stage. Soon after takeoff it became apparent that the repairs were unsuccessful as we had the red Master Warning lights illuminate after the flaps were retracted; along with the red EICAS messages noted above. However; this incident highlighted a glaring omission in the 767 QRH: to my knowledge; there is no guidance on how to silence false Master Warning horns/sirens.These horns/claxons are remarkably distracting and serve to significantly degrade a flight crew's ability to communicate on the radio (multi-task) and safely fly the aircraft. Fortunately; we had a maintenance crew chief on board for this test flight and after consulting with him we concurred that pulling Circuit Breakers (CB) B-16 and H-35 (Aural Warning L/R) would enhance flight safety. A minute or two after pulling the CB's the problem cleared so we reset the CB's to ensure we had the full protection provided by the Aural Warning system. A few minutes later; the false Master Warning ('Config Flaps')/sirens re-occurred so we again pulled the Aural Warning CB's to enhance flight safety. On the approach we reset them after briefing our expected actions in the event of another false Master Warning.We landed uneventfully and made the appropriate log book entry.My educational background was in Human Factors Engineering. There are probably hundreds of Human Factors studies showing significant performance degradation in loud and distracting environments; such as those encountered on the flight deck with a Master Warning Horn going off continuously.Given that the 767 entered service in the 1980's; I find the lack of 'False Aural Alert' or 'False Master Warning' checklist inexcusable. ALL commercial aircraft should have such a checklist so that crews will have guidance to extinguish/silence false warnings vs. the current protocol of ad hoc notes written in the QRH; or minutes spent with a crew member trying to find the correct CB's among the hundreds on the overhead panel; sidewall panels; etc.
B767-300 First Officer describes a maintenance test flight that results in false master warnings that cannot be silenced by any QRH procedures. A Maintenance technician is aboard and appropriate circuit breakers are pulled. The reporter believes that all QRH's should have procedures to silence false master warnings which are very distracting.