Narrative:

My first officer and I received the incoming aircraft at the gate and met the incoming crew. The crew departed the aircraft and stated that it was a 'good aircraft' indicating no inbound write-ups and/or problems. We did our setups and first officer did the walkaround. We continued to the operations area and looked at the outbound papers in operation at the counter. I told them the fuel was good and signed off the aircraft. Apparently; while we were in the operations area; a ramper did a walkaround and advised a supervisor that there was damage to the cargo doorframe. It looked as though belt loader hit the aircraft causing the damage. The problem: the release was signed and on my way out the operation; I said; 'ok; have a nice day; we're ready to go.' the person behind the desk said 'no; you have a write-up and the aircraft is broken.' I said; 'no; it's good; I have the log and I just reviewed the paperwork; the aircraft is good.' he then called a ramp supervisor and the supervisor said he called maintenance and wrote up a problem. At no time were they going to tell us that there was a problem. I told the ramp supervisor he needs to tell the crew so that we could take care of the problem. He said it wasn't his job and he didn't have to talk to us. (He's not a mechanic.) I called the dispatcher and she was not aware of any write-ups either. She connected me to the duty manager and we discussed the issue and the fact we had no communication. The doorframe was inspected by myself and the mechanic and it was found out the problem was conveyed to maintenance wrong and that it was the floor and not the doorframe. My concern is this: I signed the release and had a good airplane; release and maintenance release. The ramp supervisor called maintenance and had the aircraft broken between somewhere within 20 minutes after the aircraft arrived and during our preflight. At no time was there any communication with thee crew either from maintenance; the operation area or via ACARS that the maintenance release was broken. Maintenance sent the message to the operation area. The system did not work and there was no communication with the crew or dispatcher. We possibly could have left the gate under power and not know of any maintenance was done on the aircraft. I believe maintenance and the mechanic should be required to speak to the captain if they are at aircraft or operation area. I understand the procedure is there for the ramp to identify a problem while the aircraft is on an overnight and no crew is around. However; this is a 50 minute turn and a crew was walking off and another crew walking on. There is no reason for ramp or operations not to contact the outbound crew with the problem.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B757-200 Captain reported a break down in communications protocol regarding aircraft maintenance at an enroute station.

Narrative: My First Officer and I received the incoming aircraft at the gate and met the incoming crew. The crew departed the aircraft and stated that it was a 'good aircraft' indicating no inbound write-ups and/or problems. We did our setups and First Officer did the walkaround. We continued to the operations area and looked at the outbound papers in operation at the counter. I told them the fuel was good and signed off the aircraft. Apparently; while we were in the operations area; a ramper did a walkaround and advised a supervisor that there was damage to the cargo doorframe. It looked as though belt loader hit the aircraft causing the damage. The problem: The release was signed and on my way out the operation; I said; 'OK; have a nice day; we're ready to go.' The person behind the desk said 'no; you have a write-up and the aircraft is broken.' I said; 'No; it's good; I have the log and I just reviewed the paperwork; the aircraft is good.' He then called a ramp supervisor and the Supervisor said he called Maintenance and wrote up a problem. At no time were they going to tell us that there was a problem. I told the Ramp Supervisor he needs to tell the crew so that we could take care of the problem. He said it wasn't his job and he didn't have to talk to us. (He's not a mechanic.) I called the Dispatcher and she was not aware of any write-ups either. She connected me to the Duty Manager and we discussed the issue and the fact we had no communication. The doorframe was inspected by myself and the mechanic and it was found out the problem was conveyed to Maintenance wrong and that it was the floor and not the doorframe. My concern is this: I signed the Release and had a good airplane; Release and Maintenance Release. The Ramp Supervisor called Maintenance and had the aircraft broken between somewhere within 20 minutes after the aircraft arrived and during our preflight. At no time was there any communication with thee crew either from Maintenance; the operation area or via ACARS that the Maintenance Release was broken. Maintenance sent the message to the operation area. The system did not work and there was no communication with the crew or Dispatcher. We possibly could have left the gate under power and not know of any maintenance was done on the aircraft. I believe Maintenance and the mechanic should be required to speak to the Captain if they are at aircraft or operation area. I understand the procedure is there for the ramp to identify a problem while the aircraft is on an overnight and no crew is around. However; this is a 50 minute turn and a crew was walking off and another crew walking on. There is no reason for Ramp or Operations not to contact the outbound crew with the problem.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.