Wed, Dec 01, 2004
Attention To Detail Earns Aircraft Inspector Safety
Professional Award
To say that Glenn Schwarz has an eye
for detail would be a grand understatement. The quality assurance
specialist is standing on a side panel that folds down to provide a
small platform on the highest section of an H-46 helicopter.
Leaning in close, he peers at a tiny gap – thinner than a
dime – between the head of a bolt and a drive arm on the
aircraft’s aft upper flight control. Although he was
initially checking to ensure that no washers have been put on this
part of the helicopter, this thin gap has suddenly caught his
attention.
It shouldn’t be there.
Later, after a mechanic has removed the long bolt from the drive
arm, a close inspection reveals exactly what Schwarz had suspected.
A beveled edge, known as a chamfer, has not been machined into the
bushing in which the bolt is seated – one of those round peg
in a square hole type of things. Picture it like this: at the place
where the bolt’s shaft meets the head of the bolt, there is a
very slight taper, which prevents stress at that point of the bolt.
On the bushing through which the bolt is seated, there must be a
matching factory machined-taper so that the bolt fits perfectly,
with no grinding between the two. It is a small thing – but
it can lead to big problems.
Subsequent inspections of the other drive arms on the aircraft
revealed more of the same. This, in turn, led to an inventory and
replacement of many of the bushings in the depot’s and DLA
supply system.
Schwarz's discovery led to his selection as the NADEP Safety
Professional of the Month for November. In a separate award,
PMA-226 H-46 Program Manager Lt. Col. Mitch Bauman presented him
with a $250 On-the-Spot award. "His mindfulness had uncovered a
breakdown in the procurement of the bushing," said Bauman. "His
attention to detail is a behavior that is one of the last lines of
defense against such
incidents in the depot."
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