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I just read an article about a man (who is alledgedly an airplane mechanic) who was a passenger on an airplane that had some mechanical issues. Because there were no 'local' mechanics around, he decided to take matters into his own hands and fix the problem himself.

Here's the article I read (it's in Dutch though)

Here's one in English

This all seems nice but in this day of age where airplane security and regulation is so tight, I wonder if this is possible at all. It also seems to me that by the airplane company is taking a huge risk in letting this "random" person fix this problem. The article obviously oversimplifies a few things, but regardless of that, here's my question:

Is it possible for a random passenger, who also happens to be an airplane mechanic (working for airline X) to fix an issue on the airplane he happens to be on, given that there are no "local" mechanics around (however unlikely that might be)?

user
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Thousand
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3 Answers3

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I happen to have personal knowledge of this particular case. I was in that airplane, too, seated two rows away from him. I'm also a former pilot and was naturally very interested in what happened, so I asked him some questions during the flight back.

He had worked as service mechanic for this company before, servicing their planes in Iceland. Their technical staff and the pilot of this plane already knew him, which made things easier.

Tools and parts were available at the airport in Alicante, but no qualified technician certified for this type of aircraft. The technical staff of the airline contacted his boss in Iceland by phone, who agreed to sub-contract him to the airline for the duration of the repair and pay him overtime for the work.
They faxed a copy of his certification documents to Stockholm to cover the EASA regulations that require a certified professional doing the repair.

T.J.L.
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Tonny
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    in other words it wasn't a random passenger but a qualified mechanic known to the aircrew who just happened to be a passenger on that flight. Random event, not random passenger :) – jwenting Aug 07 '14 at 08:02
  • @jwenting exactly – Tonny Aug 07 '14 at 14:40
  • @Thousand I'll take all the credit I can get :-) Really, it surprised me how many upvotes I got for this one. Never expected that to happen. Even beat my previous record (40) on SuperUser easily. And I get a Guru badge out of it too. – Tonny Aug 07 '14 at 20:27
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    This is the best possible explanation of the reported situation, but it doesn't actually answer the more general question that was actually asked. I don't want to discredit this cool answer, but I'm still curious about the original question! – Torben Gundtofte-Bruun Aug 08 '14 at 08:49
  • @TorbenGundtofte-Bruun I know it doesn't exactly answer the actual question. That's also why I'm so surprised about the huge number of votes. See my comment to jwentig below the answer from Emil about the general case. – Tonny Aug 08 '14 at 09:50
  • I do think this answers the question. If there's the lucky coincidence of a person with enough knowledge arround, an airline may accept help from a him (as the example shows). If the plane is about to crash hollywood-like, a pilot is probably happy about any help he can get (if the person manages to convince the pilot of his skills), but as the bureaucracy needed for this case shows, it's not possibly for anyone to simply apply a fix for a non-fatal problem. – Sebb Aug 08 '14 at 15:01
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    I suspect that the upvotes are due to the fact that there are 7 billion people on the planet, and the fact that one of them was both on the plane in question and posts here is so mind-numbingly infinitesimal as to be nearly incredible. – dotancohen Aug 08 '14 at 15:12
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    @dotancohen I signed up to aviation.SE just to commend you on your correct use of 'incredible' :) – OJFord Aug 10 '14 at 12:56
  • Incredible indeed. :-) – Harold Cavendish Oct 10 '14 at 22:26
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    This does answer the question: "They faxed a copy of his certification documents to Stockholm to cover the EASA regulations that require a certified professional doing the repair." – sehe Oct 13 '14 at 09:01
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The airline Primera Air is a Danish business that was originally based in Iceland. They have a fleet of 8 Boeing 737s.

The passenger Davíð Aron Guðnason is an Icelandic air mechanic. He is reported as saying:

“I spoke to the captain on board and he put me through to the airline’s head mechanic who’s based in Stockholm, Sweden. He told me that there was a problem with the plane’s starter valve – which is relatively easy to fix. It only took me about thirty minutes to repair,” Davíð Aron explained in an interview with news website Vísir.is yesterday.

So he wasn't a random passenger, he was a passenger with appropriate qualifications who was in contact with the head mechanic of the airline's approved maintenance organisation.

To speculate a little, it seems reasonable to suppose that the maintenance organisation take legal responsibility for the repair. There is probably no legal requirement that all mechanics be direct employees of the maintenance organisation, so long as they ensure the mechanic has the required skills and qualifications. Given the airline's history it is possible that the airline's head mechanic, or one of his colleagues, knew Guðnason and/or was easily able to check with Guðnason's employer.

RedGrittyBrick
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    As I posted in my answer THERE IS a legal requirement that maintenance shall be carried out by an approved maintenance organization. – Emil Aug 06 '14 at 15:38
  • @Emil: I am suggesting the maintenance possibly was carried out by such an organisation. Either Guðnason was working for Primera's maintenance organisation temporarily or for his normal employer subcontracted by same. – RedGrittyBrick Aug 06 '14 at 15:40
  • Yes, I think that would have been the only way to get things moving that fast – Emil Aug 06 '14 at 15:48
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Part M requires that:

Maintenance of large aircraft, aircraft used for commercial air transport and components thereof shall be carried out by a Part-145 approved maintenance organisation.

So, I don't really see how a company would let a passenger work on an airplane, even with a proper licence.

Not to mention the passenger would need tools to perform the job and that's not something one carries in his bag on vacation.

Emil
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    I have no idea what Part M and Part-145 are, but the incident apparently happened in Spain (from a quick scan, the Dutch article says it happened on the Alicante airport). Do these parts apply there? – user Aug 06 '14 at 13:46
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    Part M is the European regulation that lays down the requirements for the operator regarding the maintenance and airworthiness of its aircraft. Part 145 is the European regulation that lays down the requirements for maintenance organisations. According to what I found on internet the company operated under EASA certificate, so it was bound by these regulations – Emil Aug 06 '14 at 13:50
  • Would you be willing to add a link to an authoritative source for the text in question, or at least clarify in the answer (for those of us mostly just curious about the subject) that this is from European regulations? – user Aug 06 '14 at 13:56
  • http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1407333650492&uri=CELEX:32003R2042 points to Doc 2042/2003. – Emil Aug 06 '14 at 14:06
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    Well, if they have a proper license, it means they are an employee of (some) Part-145-approved maintenance organization. – Jan Hudec Aug 06 '14 at 15:18
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    @JanHudec: Not necessarily, the licence is not conditioned by being employed in a maintenance organization. – Emil Aug 06 '14 at 15:35
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    @JanHudec The certification is to the mechanic in person. Not depended on his employment. See my full answer below. – Tonny Aug 06 '14 at 19:07
  • @emil See my onw answer. Seems to cover you doubts... – Tonny Aug 06 '14 at 19:08
  • And to play devil's advocate: in a situation where there's no qualified mechanics at all and the aircraft grounded until repairs can be carried out, anyone who knows how to handle a wrench, hammer, and screwdriver is better than nobody at all, regulations be darned, they're shooting at us and we have to get this crate of the ground so fix the darn plane and we'll worry about the paperwork later :) – jwenting Aug 07 '14 at 08:05
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    @jwenting It happens, especially with private/sports/bush- planes on small airfields. Commercial airlines are very leery of this though. If IATA/EASA finds out airline licenses can get revoked, pilots who knowingly condone such a repair can loose their license. And insurance companies can (and will) blacklist the airline. If I remember correctly there is an emergency clause (war-zone, natural disaster) that can be invoked to allow basically anything (including unauthorized repairs) to get passengers to safety. Subject to review later if it was justified: Ramifications will follow if not. – Tonny Aug 07 '14 at 14:51
  • @Tonny exactly the kind of situation I refer to... On a regular trip, in a place safe for the passengers and crew, you wait for the company to ship out a maintenance crew (or hire one closer to you to come over) instead. That's what airlines do, and the larger ones have people on standby to do just that 24/7. – jwenting Aug 08 '14 at 04:10