Narrative:

When the cockpit crew arrived at the airplane the security folks were just wrapping up their inspection from the inbound flight. The screener had opened a ceiling access panel just outside the forward galley on our B757 and was dismayed to find a piece of what we all considered to be insulation sitting on the access panel. He said in his history of doing inspections (since 9-11) he had never seen that. I called maintenance to inform them of concern and they said they would send someone right away. I then started the exterior preflight and noticed some of the noise dampening honeycomb in the left engine nacelle was damaged. I called maintenance to inform them of concern and they said they would send someone right way. I continued the interior preflight on the flight deck a maintenance tech arrived and conversed with the agent that had shown up and the purser to determine the problem with the access door. He told them the insulation piece was no problem and threw it back up behind the access door and closed it. He then peeked his head into the cockpit to ask about the engine. I told him I would go with him to show him the damage. Along the way down the stairs I noticed the maintenance tech had a crew chief vest on. When we got to the bottom of the stairs I asked him if he was a maintenance tech. He said he knew what was required to get the flight out and walked towards the left engine. I followed him and showed him the damage to the nacelle. He said it was not too severe and was good to go. I asked again if he was a maintenance tech; and he said no that he was a crew chief. I informed him that we had called maintenance and that they would have to make the call on the nacelle damage. He said it's good to go. I returned upstairs and when I got back in the airplane I noticed the purser and another flight attendant looked concerned. I asked why and they told me the maintenance tech (crew chief) had thrown the insulation back up and slapped the panel closed without any inspection. I told them he was a crew chief; and we would wait for maintenance to show up. I then informed the captain of what had occurred. He concurred on waiting for maintenance. A maintenance tech showed up shortly afterwards and got an earful from the flight attendants before I could get out of the flight deck to talk to him. I explained about the panel first to the maintenance tech. He opened the panel and inspected the area. He located the piece of insulation; confirmed that's what it was; and opted to keep it out of the panel instead of reinstalling it. I took him out and showed him the engine nacelle damage; and he decided to measure and document the area I found; along with another area. He then said he was going to call maintenance control and get back to us. After speaking to maintenance control; he reported to the flight crew that the damage was documented; but had gotten worse. He also did not know why the damage was not in the logbook. He made all those entries. He also said maintenance control was keeping a log of this engine's damage. We pushed back shortly after that. We had the same plane the next morning; and the proper notation of the nacelle damage helped us breeze through the preflight.suggest that folks who are not qualified to make maintenance decisions; not attempt to make them. The perception of helping the airline and pilot/maintenance interface along really slows it down when it's not done correctly. Suggest kudos get passed onto screener for taking the time to be very comprehensive in his security searches. Suggest that all noise dampening honeycomb that is damaged is noted in the logbook with proper endorsements. That we don't have to reinvent the wheel during every preflight and cost flight crew; maintenance and maintenance control lots of extra time. Suggest that the yellow vests only be worn by appropriate departments. Ie crew chief wear chew chief vests and maintenance wear maintenance vests. I spoke to another maintenance tech who said often people grab the wrong vests.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B757 First Officer discovers items requiring maintenance attention during preflight and calls for A maintenance Tech. A Crew Chief shows up and informs the reporter that the aircraft is good to go but is apparently not qualified to do so. A Maintenance Tech eventually shows up and the discrepancies are handled in an appropriate manor.

Narrative: When the cockpit crew arrived at the airplane the security folks were just wrapping up their inspection from the inbound flight. The screener had opened a ceiling access panel just outside the forward galley on our B757 and was dismayed to find a piece of what we all considered to be insulation sitting on the access panel. He said in his history of doing inspections (since 9-11) he had never seen that. I called Maintenance to inform them of concern and they said they would send someone right away. I then started the exterior preflight and noticed some of the noise dampening honeycomb in the left engine nacelle was damaged. I called Maintenance to inform them of concern and they said they would send someone right way. I continued the interior preflight on the flight deck a Maintenance Tech arrived and conversed with the agent that had shown up and the purser to determine the problem with the access door. He told them the insulation piece was no problem and threw it back up behind the access door and closed it. He then peeked his head into the cockpit to ask about the engine. I told him I would go with him to show him the damage. Along the way down the stairs I noticed the Maintenance Tech had a Crew Chief vest on. When we got to the bottom of the stairs I asked him if he was a Maintenance Tech. He said he knew what was required to get the flight out and walked towards the left engine. I followed him and showed him the damage to the nacelle. He said it was not too severe and was good to go. I asked again if he was a Maintenance Tech; and he said no that he was a Crew Chief. I informed him that we had called Maintenance and that they would have to make the call on the nacelle damage. He said it's good to go. I returned upstairs and when I got back in the airplane I noticed the purser and another flight attendant looked concerned. I asked why and they told me the Maintenance Tech (Crew Chief) had thrown the insulation back up and slapped the panel closed without any inspection. I told them he was a Crew Chief; and we would wait for Maintenance to show up. I then informed the Captain of what had occurred. He concurred on waiting for Maintenance. A Maintenance Tech showed up shortly afterwards and got an earful from the flight attendants before I could get out of the flight deck to talk to him. I explained about the panel first to the Maintenance Tech. He opened the panel and inspected the area. He located the piece of insulation; confirmed that's what it was; and opted to keep it out of the panel instead of reinstalling it. I took him out and showed him the engine nacelle damage; and he decided to measure and document the area I found; along with another area. He then said he was going to call Maintenance Control and get back to us. After speaking to Maintenance Control; he reported to the flight crew that the damage was documented; but had gotten worse. He also did not know why the damage was not in the Logbook. He made all those entries. He also said Maintenance Control was keeping a log of this engine's damage. We pushed back shortly after that. We had the same plane the next morning; and the proper notation of the nacelle damage helped us breeze through the preflight.Suggest that folks who are not qualified to make maintenance decisions; not attempt to make them. The perception of helping the airline and pilot/maintenance interface along really slows it down when it's not done correctly. Suggest kudos get passed onto screener for taking the time to be very comprehensive in his security searches. Suggest that all noise dampening honeycomb that is damaged is noted in the Logbook with proper endorsements. That we don't have to reinvent the wheel during every preflight and cost flight crew; Maintenance and Maintenance Control lots of extra time. Suggest that the yellow vests only be worn by appropriate departments. IE Crew Chief wear chew chief vests and Maintenance wear maintenance vests. I spoke to another Maintenance Tech who said often people grab the wrong vests.

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.