Date: 202007
Local time of day: 1201-1800
Location: ZZZ.Airport, US
Flight conditions: VMC
Light: Daylight
Aircraft: Commercial Fixed Wing
Operator: Air Carrier
Operating under: Part 121
Mission: Passenger
Flight phase: Parked
Aircraft component: Exterior Pax/Crew Door
Component problem: Malfunctioning
Reporter organization: Air Carrier
Reporter function: Technician
Reporter qualification: Maintenance Powerplant; Maintenance Airframe
Human factors: Time Pressure; Communication Breakdown; Troubleshooting
Second reporter function: Technician
Anomaly: Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Maintenance
Detector: Person Flight Crew
When detected: Aircraft In Service At Gate
Result: General Maintenance Action; General Flight Cancelled / Delayed
Contributing factors: Aircraft; Company Policy; Procedure
Primary problem: Procedure

Narrative: Aircraft X came in with an inbound write up for 'FWD ENTRY OUTSIDE DOOR HANDLE OUT UPON ARRIVAL' performed an operational check to verify and found that the door handle on the exterior side was not springing back into place. Troubleshooting in accordance with FIM (Flight Information Manual) task 52-10-00-810-811 found that the door required further inspection of the internal spring. I then informed my Crew Chief; that the door had multiple RII (Required Inspection Item) areas and that this was going to take a lot of time. Crew Chief then called the Supervisor on duty and informed him about what we had found and for further inspection that it would require RII was this something that he wanted done on the line? Supervisor and his Manager along with the Crew Chiefs then went to the airplane to verify what we had already found. Supervisor and his Manager instructed the Crew Chiefs to have us lube the exterior portion of the door handle. I then questioned my Crew Chief about the fact that the FIM I had been using did not indicate that as a probable fix for the door and where was the Manager's reference telling us to lube the door handle? My Crew Chiefs instructed me to lube the exterior of the door handle as per Manager's request and that Supervisor or his Manager would sign the item off; along with the Airworthiness Release.Supervisor did not want to reposition the aircraft to be worked at the hangar.


Second narrative: [Crew Chief] assigned Aircraft X as our RON work for the night. Aircraft X came in with an open write up for 'forward entry outside door handle found out upon arrival'. [Another Mechanic] and I printed Flight Information Manual (FIM) 52-10-00-810-811 to start troubleshooting. While troubleshooting we found the exterior door handle did not fully stow on its own. We suspected the compression spring to be bad. We informed our Crew Chief; that the door required further inspection of the spring and o-rings per FIM. We also showed him a video of the operation and he agreed. Crew Chief informed our Supervisor that the job would require RII (Required Inspection Item) for install and some rigging of the door; and wanted to know if we should do this at the line. At this time we were informed by Crew Chief that a Supervisor has already checked the door and considered it to be in good condition. [Our] Supervisor and his Manager and our Crew Chiefs went to the plane to check the door again. The Crew Chiefs came back and were instructed by [our] Supervisor and his Manager to have us lube the door. Our FIM task only required lubing of the door if the handle was hard to pull out. [The other Mechanic] and I questioned why this task was being requested since our paperwork wanted us to check the o-rings and spring. My Crew Chiefs said to lube the door handle per Manager's request and that if the Manager thought it was good afterwards he would sign it off. [The other Mechanic] and I then lubed the door exterior handle per Aircraft Maintenance Manual 12-25-11. The door handle still did not stow on its own. [Our] Supervisor then came to the office and signed off the lubing of the door; operational check good; and the aircraft airworthiness release.


Synopsis: Technicians reported non compliance with Company and Manufacturer's manuals when attempting to repair a door problem.