B757 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Maintenance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General Flight Cancelled / Delayed; General Maintenance Action
Human Factors; Procedure
During the pre-flight walk-around inspection I found evidence of damage to the right engine inlet inner cowl in the area of the N1 fan blades at the 4 o'clock position. It was obvious that the damaged area was previously repaired. The repair had failed and there was a deep hole with visible honeycomb material. The repair was not evident in the logbook nor in the maintenance section of our flight plan. The Captain contacted Maintenance Control and advised them of the defect and that we had written the discrepancy up in the logbook. Maintenance Control was not happy that we had done that and they advised us that the damage had been previously deferred and that we didn't need to write it up. While the repair MAY have been previously written up and deferred; it had obviously failed and there was no documentation readily apparent to the crew regarding this issue. We had no way to see or validate the facts regarding the repair or the repair failure. I feel that there was a lack of proper documentation and coordination regarding this defect. The airworthiness of that defect was not defined in any way to the pilots. It appeared un-airworthy to us. We had no way to determine where the missing repair material had gone or if there was any internal engine damage. The N1 fan and inlet stator appeared undamaged. Maintenance Control directed the local contract mechanic to sign off the logbook as 'ok for flight' and previously logged. We departed ten minutes late.
Upon reviewing flight papers; I accepted the aircraft with no indication of aircraft damage in the flight papers or on the flight plan. Upon arrival at the aircraft; I reviewed the logbook which had no indication of damage. My first officer; who performed the walk around informed me of damage to the right engine nacelle at the 4 o'clock position. I called my dispatcher who patched me through to Maintenance Control. They told me they would look into the issue. I sent the same attachment to the engine specialist at Maintenance Control. I then received a call from the station manager telling me that Maintenance Control said it was within limits and he wanted to board. I then called back to my dispatcher who patched me back to Maintenance Control. I was informed that the damage [had been deferred] and was within tolerances 10cm x 10cm and was signed off on log page XXX. I told him there was no speed tape on the damage and it appeared the temporary patch may have come off. I also voiced my concerns that it could have gone through the engine core. He assured me it would have gone through the fan section. When I asked for documentation to assure airworthiness of the airplane; I was informed we had an honor code and I would just have to trust the documentation existed. I told him I was not hanging my license certificate on his honor code and I was going to re-write up the damage to insure proper airworthiness documentation was onboard the aircraft.
B757 flight crew discovers apparent damage to the right engine cowl; which appears to be an old repair that has failed. The damage is written up but Maintenance indicates that it has been previously documented and signs it off.