B747-400
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 85
Confusion; Communication Breakdown; Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General None Reported / Taken
Human Factors; Logbook Entry; MEL; Aircraft; Procedure
Upon arrival in ZZZ; the Duty Mechanic reviewed the aircraft logbook. The ZZZ Mechanic informed the Captain for the flight that a Repetitive Inspection Item (RII) for a Nose Wheel Strut seal had not been signed-off by ZZZZ Maintenance. This surprised the [flight] crew as we had completed a through logbook review in ZZZZ prior to flight and ZZZZ Maintenance had issued and signed an Airworthiness Release for the aircraft on the white page for the flight and indicated to the flight crew that the aircraft was ready for flight and all repeat inspection items had been completed and that the Deferred Maintenance Item (DMI) list was current and accurate.The Captain and First Officer had already begun reviewing these items when I; as the Relief Pilot; entered the cockpit from my exterior inspection. As a crew; I would estimate we had spent more than 20 minutes in ZZZZ reviewing MEL's; verifying signatures; and reviewing up to five previous logbook pages prior to the white flight page; while cross checking the DMI list. This flight was especially challenging as the logbook contained multiple deferrals for other landing gear sub systems involving brakes and autobrakes. We cross checked the MEL and Dispatch Maintenance Pages as well. As Relief Pilot; I had completed the exterior inspection and found nothing out of the ordinary in regards to the landing gear assemblies and noted no leakages or fluid seeps on the nose strut for this particular aircraft. In summary; this flight was the final leg of a seven day trip; crossing multiple time-zones from ZZZ to foreign countries in which the Captain and Relief Pilot were paired together. Fatigue and the overwhelming number of deferrals and separate maintenance items located in the multiple pages of logbook; separate deferral logs and manuals and the ZZZZ Maintenance staff English; as a second language; were significant contributing factors in this incident which allowed a Repetitive Inspection Item [requirement] to 'Hide in plain sight.
A Relief Pilot reports how fatigue; an overwhelming number of deferrals; separate maintenance items in multiple pages of their logbook; separate deferral logs; manuals and foreign Maintenance staff English; were contributing factors to a Nose Gear Strut seal Repetitive Inspection Item not being accomplished on a B747-400 aircraft.