B737-700 crew reported an MEL for non-essential equipment; aft service door slide armed flag missing...

Attributes
ACN	1354378
Time
Date	201605
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-700
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise Parked
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Service/Access Door
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 264
Person 2
Function	First Officer
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 186
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural MEL

Narrative:

We arrived at the aircraft early for preflight. Noted MEL for non-essential equipment; aft service door slide armed flag missing. Aircraft was properly placarded in accordance with standard procedures and MEL was properly noted in the logbook. Flight attendant (flight attendant) was concerned about not having a slide armed flag. We departed on time. At cruising altitude; I decided to have a second look at the MEL; and found that the non-essential equipment list had a requirement to put tape over the entry door window when the slide is armed. I called the flight attendant; and found that one had duct tape in her bag. She applied a strip of tape over the window with the duct tape in accordance with the list. I also added an 'info only' note in the logbook to alert others that the aircraft had a recurring requirement for each flight with that MEL. The remainder of the flight was uneventful.it may be helpful to make recurring procedures a mandatory logbook entry for each page of flights. There was no tape available on the aircraft.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737-700 crew reported an MEL for non-essential equipment; aft service door slide armed flag missing. Requirement to place tape over the entry door window when the slide is armed. Crew recommends making recurring procedures a logbook entry.

Narrative: We arrived at the aircraft early for preflight. Noted MEL for non-essential equipment; aft service door slide armed flag missing. Aircraft was properly placarded in accordance with standard procedures and MEL was properly noted in the logbook. Flight Attendant (FA) was concerned about not having a slide armed flag. We departed on time. At cruising altitude; I decided to have a second look at the MEL; and found that the non-essential equipment list had a requirement to put tape over the entry door window when the slide is armed. I called the FA; and found that one had duct tape in her bag. She applied a strip of tape over the window with the duct tape in accordance with the list. I also added an 'info only' note in the logbook to alert others that the aircraft had a recurring requirement for each flight with that MEL. The remainder of the flight was uneventful.It may be helpful to make recurring procedures a mandatory logbook entry for each page of flights. There was no tape available on the aircraft.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.