Depends on the manager. If he's a poor slob that's shown himself to be good engineer and got promoted for it he probably knows exactly what's going on but is doing his best to get mountains of stinking paper work done and protect his people (you) from the dangerous idiots above him who think airplanes can pullover when something breaks. He may be afraid he'll burst into tears if he comes to the line and sees you doing the job he wishes he'd never left.
Or he might just be an idiot parachuted in from above.
In either case it's the lead engineer's job, part of what he's paid to for, to let somebody with authority to change the situation know about it before somebody gets hurt.