Commercial Fixed Wing
Maintenance Powerplant; Maintenance Airframe
Workload; Communication Breakdown; Confusion; Time Pressure
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Maintenance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Object
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; General Maintenance Action
Human Factors; Procedure; Company Policy
I; Mechanic A and Mechanic B were assigned 2 aircraft; Aircraft X and Aircraft Y. This scenario was out of the norm as we are usually assigned 1 aircraft per night. The reason this is abnormal is because the job for the night was an 'Entry to Park' card for Aircraft X and an 'Entry to Park' and a 'Return to Service' card for Aircraft Y. It was clear from the initial job assignments that these cards are taken very lightly and are considered nuisance cards or at least that is how they appeared. Aircraft X was assigned a XI:10 am trip and Aircraft Y was assigned a XG:30 am trip. The assignments were issued between XI:30 and XJ:00 pm. I myself have not entered an 'Entry to Park' AC and had many questions about the process as these airplanes were already at or beyond 48 hrs. on the ground. We were told to place Aircraft X into parking and leave it and to park and return to service Aircraft Y. This created much confusion for us on Aircraft Y. How do you park and return to service an aircraft immediately? Why are these cards issued now? Why the lack of manpower? What did they expect from us? How do we even accomplish these task in such a short amount of time? Do we have the ability to [apply] N/A to boxes? How did these surpass the clock? If we have to drain the water system and deactivate the heaters where are the planes parked to refill and reactivate? What equipment is available to get up to the tail and how far to get it there? Is there garbage on the airplane and do we have to dump it as per the card? Do we have to cover the pitot [tubes] only to take the tape off immediately? What airplane is the priority; the early out (because different parking spots indicate different abilities)? Why did safe go into maintenance mode when we were reviewing safe? Why did our ability to print the Procedures Manual go out for a half hour? Who do we contact; as the card suggested? Because management didn't have the answers for the questions we asked; I made two attempts to call Tech Services and the company phone dropped off and I had to use my cell and then that dropped off. The clock was ticking we made a choice to start with the aircraft on the gate after we found its location because it was going into parking and staying for dayshift. This gave us time for people to come back with the answers we needed to know about putting an aircraft into parking and taking it out immediately and how to handle. Normally we would have started with the early out aircraft. Mechanic A felt the pressure with comments such as they are going to expect these airplanes. My reassurance to him 'don't worry we just do our best' wasn't enough and he made a stand move alone while myself and Mechanic B were in the cabin and hit Aircraft X taking that airplane out of service with a 2.5 by 2.75 dent on the frame. The team was disheartened to say the least and we notified management immediately. After they arrived; Mechanic A was very distraught. I let them know that we did not even get to Aircraft Y yet and asked if they have an answer and what was the expectation for that plane. The answer was no answer yet; and yes they still expect that plane. This was around XA:30 to XB:00 am. So with that we finished off Aircraft X and the entry to park then we went to lunch very late; way past our union contract time. When I got back from lunch; all the paper work I had printed to start the next aircraft was removed from the east office and in some type of transportation mode so all the work was missing. Looking for the work brought us around XD:30 am and still could not locate it. End of shift was XE:30 and so we abandoned any potential work to be done on Aircraft Y. What is their expectations to accomplish an Entry to Parking and a Return to Service in a single night just for the sake of accomplishment with no real positive outcome other than to risk a failure?The cards need to be made more realistic or the company needs to be more realistic about their flight schedulesand actual workload. This whole program of parking needs to be revamped. This whole process left more questions than answers and different interpretations. It's a real mess in my personal opinion and in some cases may lead mechanic who has a work efficiency outlook to do it way different (some would say cut corners) than a mechanic who has a processes outlook and will park the plane before lunch then would return to service after lunch wasting materials and supplies and filling landfills simply because they realize that is the process.
I was assigned to work 2 airplanes Aircraft X required an Entry to Park and Aircraft Y required Entry to Park and required to Return to Service. I worked alongside Mechanic C and Mechanic B. We had many issues with this job being with the workload and their expectations it seemed to be a lot. We didn't receive any direction and it didn't seem to make sense but we tried to comply as the best we could. I know they wanted the airplanes in the morning but I didn't see how we can do it without taking some shortcuts. Their expectations seemed high. We did our best. I was working as fast as I can to help keep up with the other 2 mechanics. I had to move a stand to cover the pitot probes and I was moving the stand around the aircraft. Having such a large workload; I felt pressure to move the stand on my own. I am always willing to help others without question; but sometimes when I bother people to help with stands; they cause a conflict and I don't really like to cause or have conflicts at work as it stresses me out. Many times if I ask for help it creates more problems so I try to be independent. As I was pushing a stand; there was an air conditioning hose in the way and I turned off the power and flattened the hose. I probably should have disconnected it; now that I look back; but at the time I have done this before as I observed other mechanics do and as I went over the hose I fell the stand got away from me because of the weight and it hit the plan. I regret the decisions I made even though they seemed okay at the time I guess the pressure got to me. I have to learn to deal with the pressures placed on me. I will seek advice as suggested by steward to talk to the Employee Assistance Program to help me tackle this. I think the workload was unfair and the expectations were high. I should have removed the hose and I should have had a spotter. There were many variables. I also believe the stand should have a better bumper placement as that alone would have helped tremendously if not eliminated [the risk] with certainty.
Mechanic reported company's poor guidance; time pressure; and lack of communication resulted in a stand hitting the aircraft.