Let me tell you a story:
Some time ago, whilst devouring an excellent breakfast our aircraft generated a “ping.” There was no caption, just a local “FAULT” warning light on the R/H Recirc. Fan. The standard deal was (and still is) fly the plane, confirm the failure, run the checklist, etc. So putting the excellent breakfast aside, this procedure was started. Just as this was happening, Cherrie our No.1 rung to give us some urgent news. “Boys, there’s a horrible smell of smoke in the back by the galley. I’ve woken up the positioning crew and together we’ve felt every panel and none of them are warm. There is no smoke but we’ve placed the extinguishers and the smoke masks in the rear of the cabin, just in case. There’s something not right. I’ve told them (the cabin crew) to check every panel again every five minutes until I’ve spoken with you. What would you like us to do next?” Given that we had a fault, the crew smelt smoke, a C/B had popped and we had a fault light I considered that the problem had been identified, power removed (as it happens, against the checklist, but that’s another story) and we should have no re-occurrence. The proof of this would be a reduction in the smell of burning. I told her what we had done and what we would do next and she continued with her bit. So together as a crew we continued. Her job was to press me for an explanation as what had happened and mine was to provide an answer and a solution. There was no non-SOP stuff, just normal common sense AND SOPs. This and no more is all that is expected.
As it happened, the bearings of the R/H Recirc. failed and as a result allowed the motor windings to heat up to such a point that they short circuited and generated a warning. The aircraft systems “failed safe“ as designed and continued to be monitored. The cabin crew’s actions were appropriate and totally SOP. And that is all that had to be done. And even though this was a few years ago, I remember it well because of Cherrie’s and her superb crew’s support. But the most important thing about Cherrie would be that post incident, she would listen to and take on board any criticism (not that there was any, only praise!). After this incident, the SCCM says she’d consider doing the same thing again. The AAIB made sure that her sentiment was included in their report. She didn’t say that she’d push for a response or more information. Short of evidence to the contrary, it’s the lack of acceptance that it may have been possible to have had a better outcome that worries me.
Last edited by Piltdown Man; 17th Feb 2011 at 20:15.