Guest Writer / Mike Moldeven

I want others to write on this blog and I have my first guest column. Mike is a friend of mine, a former employee of the Government and the U.S. Air Force. He served in WWII and after the war served as quality control for the Air Force. It was his job to file "Unsatisfactory Reports" on equipment and so forth when he found deficiences. Here is one of his Post WWII accounts: THANKS MIKE

Unsatisfactory Reports

I was a U. S. Govt 'war worker' at the Air Force logistics depot on
Hickam Field/AFB, Hawaii during and, for a few more years, after WW2.
When hostilities ended I was reassigned from aircrew parachute and
emergency survival gear maintenance to the depot Maintenance
Division's staff office that investigated, documented and processed
'inspection' reports. My assignment included reports initiated by
operators, technicians, engineers, etc., on aircraft and support
systems and related equipment failures, erroneous tech data,
manufacturers' production defects, services errors, and materiel
management and support practices generally by contractors and other
government entities. The governing directive for my specialty was / is
the USAF Unsatisfactory Reports (UR) Program Tech Order 00-35D-54.

My duties included familiarizing shop technicians, crew chiefs and
first and second level supervisors with the processes of the UR
reporting system such as keeping tech notes, recording and protecting
evidence and exhibits to meet the Tech Order's requirements. I
occasionally used informal group brainstorming to draw out context,
'probable cause' and 'fix' ideas from crew chief expertise and others
that were knowledgeable and added pertinent info in the UR. Failures
and defects reports often called for physical evidence/exhibits. In
those days URs were air mailed from Hickam to Wright Patterson AFB,
the focal point for management of USAF logistics functions.

[Vignette: An unusual UR, as I remember: When: Late '40s. The
Maintenance Division's 'Big Hangar' has a line of C-54s down the
middle undergoing scheduled extensive repairs. I get a call from the
Aircraft Repair chief inspector. Problem: A forward upper inboard
corner of the spar in the port wing's integral fuel tank in a C-54
undergoing depot-level inspection shows clear evidence of corrosion.
Potential impact: Fleets of C-54s working worldwide; is the problem
unique to this one airplane or extensive. Get a UR out ASAP.

I'm off to the hangar up at the aircraft maintenance stand. The integral fuel
tank's panel is off. I maneuver my right arm, head and a bit of my
shoulder up into the tank. Lights. There it is, within arm reach.
Scratch at the corrosion; rough, pitted surface: the evidence /
exhibit; photos. Back to the office. UR prepared, signed by authority
and on its way, very likely preceeded by an electronic priority TWX
[currently email].

Next day; from my supervisor: "Mike, Tech Services at Wright-Pat
wants the wing section. Right now. Base Commander authorizes use of a
C-82 Boxcar. 'Aircraft Repair' gets the exhibit wing section off and
on a truck trailer, braced and ready for [rear] loading on the C-82.
Wing section delivered to Base Ops and loaded. I stand by as the UR
project officer. I observe the C-82 liftoff and return to the office.

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My experiences in implementing and using the U R system during and
after WW2 resulted, post-retirement, in authoring and updating my
blog;

'Fixing and Preventing Mistakes and Deficiencies in the Workplace' online at:

http://mistakesdeficienciesworkplace.blogspot.com/

Moldeven