A319
Maintenance Airframe; Maintenance Powerplant
Maintenance Inspector 3
Communication Breakdown; Situational Awareness; Training / Qualification
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General Declared Emergency; General Maintenance Action
Company Policy; Human Factors; Staffing; Procedure; Manuals
I was tasked to do a daily check on an Airbus 319. The temperature was 15 degrees above 0 and was snowing. This was the first time I was doing the daily by myself. I have been involved briefly 2 other times and that was to help in parts of the check; i.e. inflate the tires or walk around the aircraft. On [the previous day] I saw a technician service the crew O2 while the bottle was still inside the aircraft while I serviced the tires. I was not directly involved with the servicing of the O2 that night; only walked by and looked at what was going on. He said Maintenance Control said this was fine to do but was not per the AMM [Aircraft Maintenance Manual.] On this evening I did the same thing but I closed the bottles valve because I did not want to lose pressure when I disconnected the service hose. I forgot to open the valve when I was done; causing the in-flight emergency. Most of the problems include very limited training (almost a year since training happened-no hands on because airline did not fly out of airport for almost a year. They started the first of this year.) No AMM books or computer access only what we got from Maintenance Control. The weather was bad; very cold and snowing. Airport Management not telling or showing us where parts were and where to service O2; or oil; tires; were located. All technicians involved with the daily checks were upset about the lack of help/info/resources from Management. Norms was the major cause of this problem because word was passed down from mechanic to mechanic that this is how Maintenance Control wants it done.
A maintenance technician was told that it was acceptable to service a crew oxygen bottle while it is installed in the aircraft; even though it was not per the Aircraft Maintenance Manual. He performed the task; but neglected to reopen oxygen bottle valve after removing the service hose; which resulted in an in-flight emergency. The technician noted a lack of training; equipment; and documentation.