Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Training / Qualification; Troubleshooting; Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural MEL / CDL; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General Maintenance Action
MEL; Procedure; Aircraft; Human Factors; Incorrect / Not Installed / Unavailable Part
During the walk around at ZZZ the First Officer noticed a cable on the nose wheel assembly was zip tied to a hydraulic line and the connector was covered with plastic. (see attachment) During the flight deck preflight I noticed there wasn't a NW STR DISC memo on the ECAM (Electronic Centralized Aircraft Monitor). I mentioned it to the FO (First Officer); he showed me the picture and mentioned that the disconnected cable may be the cause. I radioed ZZZ maintenance and told them we had no NW STR memo and that we couldn't move the aircraft without it. A mechanic arrived; confirmed the pin was installed and stated we could placard/MEL (Minimum Equipment list) the ECAM memo and be on our way. I said that I'd prefer it if he reconnected the cable first and see if that fixes the issue. He inspected the nose gear; reconnected the cable and the issue was resolved. If we would've put the issue on MEL and then subsequently retracted the gear there could've been serious damage to the electrical and hydraulic lines on the nose gear since they were zip tied together. The aircraft was a RON (Remain Overnight) in ZZZ and it arrived with MEL for NWS bypass pin lever clip broken. The spring clip was replaced and signed off as 'OPS check good' and the MEL cleared. During the re-activation process the electric harness was supposed to be reconnected and it wasn't. Follow the re-activation steps as published. A check of the recent maintenance history and they would've noticed the system in question was repaired just a few hours earlier. As a result; they could've made a more thorough inspection of the system rather than just looking at the pin and suggesting we put it on MEL.
A321 Captain reported discrepancy with Nose Gear Steering during preflight.