May Your Buttons Always Wiggle

On my third tour in Texas I was in another Cavalry Troop and served as the Cobra instructor pilot. As the instructor pilot, my job was to ensure that standards were maintained. All the Cobra pilots had to take check rides with me and demonstrate that they could fly the aircraft to standards and also know the unit’s tactics. There were two types of check rides that pilots had to pass with me: an annual check ride and a “no-notice” check ride that could happen at any time I felt I should administer it.

In flying helicopters there are only two emergencies that allow little chance of survival. If a blade comes off the main rotor there is minimal chance of survival. Or if the transmission stops turning the results are the same as if a blade comes off. Unless the helicopter is within a few feet of the ground when one of these situations happen there is no chance of survival.

The transmission on the Cobra has two filters to filter the oil and ensure that good clean oil is lubricating the transmission. However, getting dirty oil to lubricate the transmission is better than no oil, so both filters have the ability to be bypassed if the filters start to clog. One filter is an internal filter and the pilot has no way of knowing if that filter has been by-passed. The only time a by-pass of the internal filter would be known is if maintenance personnel discover it when changing the filter on a scheduled maintenance.

The external filter is located on the side of the transmission and has a little red button that is supposed to “pop” up if there is a differential in pressure between the oil going into the filter and the oil coming out of the filter. The button pops up by the force of a little spring like the type that is used in a ballpoint pen. If the filter is plugging with foreign matter in the oil, there will be a differential of pressure, which will cause the button to “pop” up. Before every flight the pilot checks to see if the button has popped up.

When I went through the Cobra Instructor Pilot course we were taught that we should check the button and “wiggle” it to ensure that it was “free” and could pop up if it was supposed to. I think all cobra pilots were trained in this button wiggling technique. All the time I had been flying Cobras I had been wiggling buttons.

While in Texas I discovered that one of the transmission filter by-pass indicator buttons was corroded and would not wiggle. I wrote it up in the book for maintenance to correct. The maintenance people did not fix it but wrote it off that it didn’t need to be fixed. While that was happening I decided I should check other aircraft to see if the buttons wiggled. Close to half of the fleet of nine Cobras had buttons that would not wiggle. So I recorded my findings in the aircraft logbooks for maintenance to fix.

Soon I learned that maintenance said that their books did not indicate the buttons had to wiggle. Even if the books didn’t say the buttons had to wiggle, it made sense to me. If the button is corroded and will not move then a little ballpoint pen spring is not going to push it up if the filter is plugging up. Then the pilot would never have any indication that the filters were clogging and the transmission might be getting lubricated with dirty oil. In time, the transmission might seize-up and a fatal crash might happen.

I went and talked directly with the maintenance officer and he said he was not going to spend money or time replacing the by-pass cover of the filter. We were in a tough spot. The pilots knew the buttons were supposed to wiggle and didn’t want to fly the aircraft and the maintenance people would not fix them. Most of the pilots said they felt they would end up having to fly the aircraft because they didn’t want to get into trouble.

I returned to the maintenance officer and told him that the aircraft would not be flown until the by-pass indicators were fixed. He told me that we had better fly the aircraft. Then he said that the other pilots would give-in and fly the aircraft when they were pressured. That angered me and I dug in my heels and told him that if they did fly the aircraft, I would give them a “no-notice” check ride and they wouldn’t pass it. If an instructor pilot wants to fail someone on a check ride he can find something that is not “up to standards”. And I told the maintenance officer that once the pilots hear that they will a get a “no-notice” check ride, they will not fly any one of the aircraft.

A day or two later the commanding officer called me and asked me to come to his office. When reporting to him in his office he asked me to sit down. I sat down and he said, “Maintenance is now replacing all of the filter by-pass assemblies. Are you satisfied?” I told him that I was very happy and I thought that the right thing was being done. Within about three days all of the assemblies were replaced and we were flying all of the “Snakes” (Cobras) again!

Before the showdown, the maintenance people (to include the maintenance officer) and I had always had a good relationship. After the showdown we had the same relationship. Although we had a disagreement neither one of us had been disagreeable. We had not raised our voices and I had respected his rank and always addressed him as “sir”. We simply had a difference of opinion on what should be done about a service question. I viewed it as a safety feature that was not working and he viewed it as not being required because the maintenance book didn’t say that is was.

When I left that unit about a year later I was given a number of plaques. I had not been in the maintenance platoon and normally only the platoon a service member is in gives a departing member a plaque. However, the maintenance platoon made a plaque and gave it to me with the inscription “May Your Buttons Always Wiggle”.

Too often we have a difference of opinion with someone and one or both get nasty or bitter about it. Sometimes voices are raised and names thrown as weapons. Once bitterness gets into a relationship it will be tough to get back to a friendly relationship. We can have disagreements without being disagreeable!! Respect others and their opinions. Don’t sacrifice a family, social or business relationship because you have a different view on something. Let the buttons wiggle and maybe you’ll end up with a plaque.