Actually I cannot see a problem with asking on a website, it is similar to asking someone at work, you take on board what they are saying listen to their suggestions and go through them in your own head to see if they are offering a different avenue to those that you have all considered at work.
It can often bring to the forefront a different approach to a problem that may well be in the Maintenance Manual but had not been considered and you had not seen that it too could effect whatever you are trying to fix.
I agree you do not simply implement what people tell you, but then you would not do that in a face to face conversation, you would listen to what is said, work out if it has any effect on the problem you are dealing with then work it out in your own mind as to the way fwd,
I totally agree with Engineer_aus The Maintenance Manuals don't tell you everything. Also they never have every single part in the IPC.
Just because the Aircraft you are working on has near a complete set of manual, not all do, in fact some are dreadful.... and maybe in the years you have worked on aircraft you haven't come across them but the in years I have, they are frequent, I have done Jets, covering fighters, passenger and executive, helicopters and the smaller stuff, both civil and military.
Cessna's manuals for the lowly 152 have still got the wrong figures for balancing and even pictures of the wrong aileron type in it after 50 odd years....... it took several phone calls to get the right figures faxed to me from them and I would have still been trying to balance them as per the Maintenence Manual if someone else had not noticed the error, amendments issued in service letters for the manuals some 25 years ago have yet still to be added, even though those letters stated " incorporated shortly".
I am not condoning simply doing what people tell you on the web as you neither know their experience nor backgound and I would never condone or do that, but if listening to them and seeing if in your own mind through the process of reasoning that they are possibly showing you a different avenue of approach to a fault you never considered, then being able to put that on the table at work and say what do you think? and working with the manuals to see if that can effect the fault is not a bad thing.........
Though as said, the Manual is only as good as those that write it, if it was perfect it would never be ammended.
Oh and CircuitB I work alone.
Last edited by NutLoose; 14th Apr 2009 at 13:28.