Stupid Design Award
Recently I had to replace a TAI pop out indicater on a 757. The formentioned beast is situated on the engine intake at about the 3 o'clock position. The access panel is big enough to get one hand in comfortably, but ideally you need two hands and your head in. Removal presented no problems. You undo one pipe and remove the indicator's mounting bracket which is held on by two bolts which in turn go into anchor nuts; but refitment was a nightmare. Getting the brackets' bolts started proved to be difficult as you cannot see what you are doing, and trying to line everything up with a podger helped, but the holes still were still slightly off. After a while my supervisor suggested I go and have a coffee, and let someone else have a go. I suggested that this had got to the personal pride stage and I would see the job through, but not in those words. I did get the job finished, but on reflection I could see that there was plenty of scope to drop something down the inside of the intake, but how would you recover it? Certainly there are two access panels situated at the bottom of the intake, but they are riveted on for goodness sake. Just how many 757's are there flying round, I wonder, with a tub or two of PRC dumped inside them in the vain hope that something that has been dropped down and cannot be retrieved won't rattle round too much? (I bet that bit of maintenance wouldn't get recorded)
So for me, the RB211 intake designer gets the award for 'I designed it but I will never work on it' Stupid Design Award
Unless you know better.
Civi Aviation only for this one please as we all know that military aircraft were only ever designed to be shot down, not fixed.