Piper19

So people, this day I had another bad situation in the cockpit, between an off duty pilot and myself.
Plane comes in at 1400hrs with display problem reported at acars.
Spare parts arrive at 1330hrs, so rush rush to change parts.
I arrive in the cockpit and about 6 (!) pilots chatting there. I kindly ask if I may sit in the F/O seat to loosen the display. I lay four screws on a table together with a cover, go downstairs to get extra tools; back in the cockpit is that guy sitting there again...
Good, asking again to swap seats, crawling between the crowded cockpit, I see the cover somewhere else with the screws covering the ground.
They see me screwing around the rudder pedals, finally found 3 screws, enough to retighten the glareshield.
I leave the cockpit, go sign the tech log outside at 1350hrs, is one of the pilots coming to me "why are you not fixing the thing as should be?"
I told him one of the jumpseaters is mechanic and is gonna fix the last screw in home base, and if he wants I'll even put it in HIL/CDL.
He shook his head saying this is unprofessional working...
Now I did everything I could to get the plane leaving at time. But indeed I did not tighten the 4th screw of the plastic cover. But then again, how many screws would be missing in a cockpit? Getting a new screw would have costed me a delay on that plane.

Now I'm curious how other engineers would have acted. Get the job done 100% right and get a delay, or talk your way through?

And for the pilots reading this, I'm a pilot myself as are a lot of mechanics, and I cannot see I would ever treat the mechanic on my plane like this.
That being said I feel better (by the way some pilots tend to be a totaly different person in the hotel bar as prooved this guy!)
have a nice day all

aveng

Simple - ask the crew to leave the cockpit before you begin!

Four Bars on the shoulder are like Haemaroids - if you sit long enough you'll get them.

bArt2

What a bunch of ***holes

You should have told them too make room (leave) in the cockpit.

If I was one of the pilots, I would have left the cockpit on my own initiative and would have asked the others to do the same.

Not a very professional attitude of them I would say.

Messing with your stuff is certainly not a very professional thing.

I would have asked them who threw the screws away.

Maybee you should have said that because they threw the screws on the floor, you would not be able to have the aircraft fixed untill they are found.

Blacksheep

The aircraft must be cleared while maintenance work is being carried out. If they've signed off the log, you can ask them to leave. If they haven't signed off or they have but won't clear the flight deck, the delay is theirs not yours.

Never, never sign off a job that's incomplete just because there might be a delay.

NutLoose

I agree, I would tell them simply to leave the cockpit so you could work, if they refused then I would simply turn round and leave them to it until they did, if you were still missing the screw then I would not have released it until found.....

But i would not have left the last screw to anyone..if he had started having a go at me for unprofessionalism, I would have said fine, it is grounded till I can get access, now get the ***** out of the cockpit and let me do my job....... they dont call it a "cock"pit for nothing...

Mr.Brown

Take the delay and put all the info in the delay report , also get the outbound crew to put in their flight report that the parts you removed were moved by a crew member returning to flightdeck for a chat and hence lost several aircraft parts. So aircraft was delayed because engineer was searching for missing screws and then sourcing new ones.

ready eddy

If the a/c is tech, its tech til the crs has been signed, and the job is done properly. I would have no problem asking anyone to leave the flight deck so I can have access to do my job, and as for moving parts/hardware, what do they think they are achieving????????? Any delay will only make their day longer, and I wouldn't let the a/c depart without being fully satis for service! Some pilots really have a thing about themselves and are real primmadonnas', but for the most part, most of them are sound. Always some bad apples around though.

Piper19

Well, I didn't tell them to move away, because it was less than 30 minutes before departure, and I know they need 30 minutes to prepare the cockpit (entering data in fms etc). So in these cases I also want to avoid delay by them not being ready.
Maybe in the future I shouldn't start a sheduled job within 30 minutes of departure.

NutLoose

Then simply tell them anyone not flying the aircraft that needs to be in the cockpit to leave.... that way you would reduce the amount of peopel down to crew only.

pjvr99

Clear the cockpit - the moment you have people in your workspace, unfamiliar
with your job, they are going to start poking around. In your case a screw was lost - while it doesn't sound like much, if it jammed a throttle lever or
rudder pedals during take-off/landing, and the crew declares emergency, you
would be the one with egg on your face, and out of a job. Until the forms are
signed off, the plane is YOUR responsibility.

IFixPlanes

To prevent such situations i have always some little Bags in my pocket.

aviatordom

How horrible of them!

This may sound a little stupid, but do you reckon that they/one of them purposely knocked the screws on the floor so that they may have the possibility of a day off?

Jet II

Would have turfed them all out of the flight deck.

That being said - if the defect was MEL - able then I wouldn't have attempted to fix within 30 mins of departure.

Capot

Agree with all the above, ie you should have asked them to clear the working space and, in fact you should not even have had to ask. The lack of professionalism started with them, not you.

But IMHO it was wrong to leave a screw lying around..who knows where it might get to?

I would like to think that I would have asked one to help search and the others to get out of the way until it was found, but......we're all heroes at the keyboard.

Vortechs Jenerator

Have you seen the way most of them act on here?

I've sat in too many pilot crew rooms I guess listening to their inane whining to have any inerrant respect for them, I take them as I find them. The good ones with a respect for me get it back, the pricks get treated as such.

Should have chucked them out, stood outside until vacated

smudgethecat

To be fair there just the same as the rest of us, most are fine, you get the odd prick who thinks he is gods gift to aviation but then again you find those types in every walk of life

HAWK21M

Before you started the Mx work.You should have asked the crew to leave the Flight deck so you can commence the Job.

regds
MEL

forget

Piper 19, May I ask - what happened to the missing screw? Is it still bouncing around the flight deck?

Fargoo

Sounds like you fell into the trap that we all do at some point or another - putting pressure on ourselves when none exists.

A delay, although not desirable, isn't the end of the world. It would've been wise to ask for some space to do your job although I wouldn't clear the flight deck completely unless it was really necessary.

Also, as above, I always put removed parts in a bag and either take them with me or leave them on top of the glareshield. This way they can't get misplaced or knocked off.

Line work can be stressful and sometimes crews don't realise the effect they're having just chatting while you're trying to work. Try sitting on the jump seat and having a chat with them while they're working and see what response you get.

As for the missing screw, i'm not even going there

Piper19

Well thanks everybody for the comment. Guess I need to dare more next time.
The item was not mel-able; the engineer at arrival station was warned and found the screw.