Narrative:

Aircraft was to be ferried after maintenance. Captain and first officer reviewed logbook and determined mrd (maintenance report document) was valid and write-ups had been cleared. Flight operations duty manager later notified crew that flight was not legal because no ferry permit was ever granted. Crew advised that a conversation with maintenance had occurred prior to departure and maintenance indicated mrd was valid and flight was released legally. There is apparently some confusion in maintenance as to what was the actual status of this flight/nose number. First time flight crew heard anything about ferry permit was from flight operations duty manager. No one at operations or maintenance center had indicated anything else was required.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: FLT CREW ASSIGNED TO FERRY ACFT FROM MDT TO ORD DETERMINED THE MAINT RPT DOCUMENT WAS VALID TO FERRY ACFT. CREW LATER LEARNED A FERRY PERMIT WAS REQUIRED.

Narrative: ACFT WAS TO BE FERRIED AFTER MAINT. CAPT AND FO REVIEWED LOGBOOK AND DETERMINED MRD (MAINT RPT DOCUMENT) WAS VALID AND WRITE-UPS HAD BEEN CLRED. FLT OPS DUTY MGR LATER NOTIFIED CREW THAT FLT WAS NOT LEGAL BECAUSE NO FERRY PERMIT WAS EVER GRANTED. CREW ADVISED THAT A CONVERSATION WITH MAINT HAD OCCURRED PRIOR TO DEP AND MAINT INDICATED MRD WAS VALID AND FLT WAS RELEASED LEGALLY. THERE IS APPARENTLY SOME CONFUSION IN MAINT AS TO WHAT WAS THE ACTUAL STATUS OF THIS FLT/NOSE NUMBER. FIRST TIME FLT CREW HEARD ANYTHING ABOUT FERRY PERMIT WAS FROM FLT OPS DUTY MGR. NO ONE AT OPS OR MAINT CTR HAD INDICATED ANYTHING ELSE WAS REQUIRED.

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.