B727 crew departed with a maintenance discrepancy that was not properly signed off.

Attributes
ACN	407209
Time
Date	199806
Day	Thu
Local Time Of Day	1201 To 1800
Place
Locale Reference	airport : ord
State Reference	IL
Altitude	agl bound lower : 0 agl bound upper : 0
Environment
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Operator	common carrier : air carrier
Make Model Name	Large Transport, Low Wing, 3 Turbojet Eng
Flight Phase	ground : preflight
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Affiliation	company : air carrier
Function	flight crew : captain oversight : pic
Qualification	pilot : atp
ASRS Report	407209
Person 2
Affiliation	company : air carrier
Function	flight crew : first officer
Qualification	pilot : commercial pilot : instrument
ASRS Report	407210
Events
Anomaly	aircraft equipment problem : less severe non adherence : far non adherence : published procedure
Independent Detector	other flight crewa
Resolutory Action	none taken : anomaly accepted other
Consequence	Other
Supplementary
Primary Problem	Aircraft
Air Traffic Incident	other

Narrative:

Open item in aircraft log. Prior to flight, a review of the aircraft log showed a write-up of an inoperative #1 EPR gauge by the previous crew. Within the same block, and written in different color ink, was an additional entry. This led us to believe the write-up had been corrected. En route the #1 EPR gauge gave incorrect readings. While this new entry was being added to the log it was discovered that the original write-up had never been corrected. Thus we departed ord with an open item in the aircraft log. A more careful review of this log would have prevented this from happening.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B727 CREW DEPARTED WITH A MAINT DISCREPANCY THAT WAS NOT PROPERLY SIGNED OFF.

Narrative: OPEN ITEM IN ACFT LOG. PRIOR TO FLT, A REVIEW OF THE ACFT LOG SHOWED A WRITE-UP OF AN INOP #1 EPR GAUGE BY THE PREVIOUS CREW. WITHIN THE SAME BLOCK, AND WRITTEN IN DIFFERENT COLOR INK, WAS AN ADDITIONAL ENTRY. THIS LED US TO BELIEVE THE WRITE-UP HAD BEEN CORRECTED. ENRTE THE #1 EPR GAUGE GAVE INCORRECT READINGS. WHILE THIS NEW ENTRY WAS BEING ADDED TO THE LOG IT WAS DISCOVERED THAT THE ORIGINAL WRITE-UP HAD NEVER BEEN CORRECTED. THUS WE DEPARTED ORD WITH AN OPEN ITEM IN THE ACFT LOG. A MORE CAREFUL REVIEW OF THIS LOG WOULD HAVE PREVENTED THIS FROM HAPPENING.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2007 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.