biztraveler2007

well, a plane sat at DFW overnight and yet this morning it has mechanical issues ? how can this happen ? i recall in the past this is a symptom on disgruntled union members ? anyone having issues with AA ?

JBEagle1000G

As an engineer, this isn't as rare a phenomenon as you may think.
Lots of things sit overnight and then just don't work the next day.
I've had this happen with various items such as my car, computers, dishwasher etc.
Components could be fine upon shut down the previous night, and the act of starting them up the next morning can aggravate a failure that was imminent....and sometimes without the influence of union members

flaneurPete

During my years as a USAF crew chief, the biggest overnight problems were leaks - hydraulic, oil, and occasionally fuel.

BSBD

During the height of the bankruptcy, the planes weren't just breaking, they were falling apart.

I don't see that kind of stuff these days, just "normal" maintenance issues,

BStrauss3

How often does a light bulb blow when you flip it on? Start-up surges are death.

Herb687

Cite please?

brp

I've wondered this previously during overnights or long layovers for the aircraft. It seems that a number of things are not checked until the new crew come aboard since a lot of it is checked by the captain and co-pilot. So, the issue may well have been there all night, and just not discovered until the new crew were available.

Cheers.

JDiver

If it's not squawked by the arriving crew (they did not notice it during their pre-flight inspection and during flight), there's nothing to fix. The departing crew arrives, checks and finds issues that concern them (may have occurred whilst on the tarmac even) and are not within the MEL so have to be repaired.

That's different from scheduled maintenance not being performed on schedule.

steve64

So the inbound crew notices the light bulb was working when they turned it off, so they didn't write it up.
But the the overnight mechanic decides "what the heck" and turns the light on just to make sure it's working. It is, so s/he turns it off.
The next morning, the outbound crew is going thru their start-up checklist, turns on the light and *poof* ... the bulb just burned out.
Shame on the mechanic for not cycling the bulb on/off 2 times just to make sure.

I'm not understanding the line of reasoning that doesn't think anything can fail on the first departure of the day (or following a long layover). I'd think the odds for most aircraft components are just as likely to fail on the first flight of the day as on the last.

I'd bet that for preventative type maint, a lot of things are tested beforehand (pre-flight/overnight/sked checks/etc) to make sure everything is within specs. But for repair type maint, it's anybody's guess as to which flip of the switch will be the time the component fails.

JDiver

Yep, and further the aircraft can fly with out-of-service components, as long as they do not exceed the MEL (Minimum Equipment List) allowances.

brp

I'm not understanding this comment with regard to my post as I never said anything of the sort. Of course it can fail on first departure and have been fine before. It could also have been broken before, as I suggested. These are two options and not mutually exclusive across the set of failures. In the end, I think what you're likely not understanding are the implications of what I wrote. Suggest reading it again.

Cheers.

dickinson

What I love about FT is that we are able to extrapolate one random occurrence into evidence of a vast problem.

FlyMeToTheLooneyBin

How were they falling apart?

biztraveler2007

More info.. So the flight from DFW to SJC was to leave at approx. 7.45 am. Passengers board the plane, a plane that was sitting there overnight. Cabin gets a bit warm, ie must have been an old TWA MD80, as passengers get seated. After 30 min, AA tells us mechanical issue has occurred we disembark the plane. Repeat this two more times for due to `mechanical issues.` Note, we actually moved 50 yards, inside a steamy MD80, from the gate one time only to return. After 4 hours of this, the AA terminal agent indicates AA will fix this plane. At this point, we have a 1st. A lady in the crowd around the gate starts going postal and yelling `get us a different plane!`. Realizing it is now the peak of heat in the day, literally, can you image sitting on that MD80 for a 4th time after the plane has sat in the Dallas 90 degree heat ? No wonder the lady went postal. How can a plane sit overnight and not get maintenance ? In this age of computer programs monitoring part failure and maintenance schedules can this happen ?

richarddd

Here's a thread with a number of posts that answer these questions: <this thread>