Narrative:

I went outside to begin my preflight of the aircraft. With our new white paint jobs; the ability to pick out missing screws under the wings and fuselage is very easy. I walked under the aircraft and found a missing fastener behind the lower rotating beacon; and then I went to the right wing and found an additional 3 missing fasteners in different locations. I continued my preflight and when I got to the left wing I noticed there was a panel with 4 missing screws in succession as well as 3 other missing screws in other locations on the left wing. This is a total of 11 missing screws on this aircraft. I had two maintenance personnel follow me as I pointed out the 11 missing screws and; after notifying the captain; followed up with write ups on ACARS: 7 screws missing left wing; 3 screws missing right wing; screw missing behind lower beacon. I then resumed my cockpit checks in preparation for our ETOPS departure. Within a few minutes we were told by the gate agent that we had been given a maintenance 'decision' time.at that point I went back downstairs to see what was happening with the repairs. I saw the original mechanic who told me they had fixed all the screws except one and he pointed out the one that wasn't fixed to me. It was one of the three screws missing on the right wing. He told me the nut backing plate was missing and he would just defer it. I told him; 'really; I have never heard of them just deferring a missing screw without at least speed taping it.' he said he would go check his paperwork. I took note of the panel he showed me. It was a small panel with maybe 4-7 screws and one of them was missing. Within a few minutes back in the cockpit a new maintenance release was printing. I took a look at it and there was no mention of a deferral. It did say; with regards to the 3 missing screws on the right wing: action: rpl missing screws. This was a falsification of official airline documents.I called maintenance and told them the screw had not been replaced. He said he would look into it. At this point the captain went down to see what was going on. The captain told me that she met the supervisor down below and that the supervisor said they were in a rush to get the jet out for an on time departure. This could not have been true either as we were now already 30 minutes late. The supervisor also told her that they would have never let the airplane takeoff without the screw being fixed and would even call the tower to stop the aircraft from taking off if need be. (I firmly believe that had I not gone down below and seen the screw was still missing; that we would have never heard from maintenance again).the captain then came back up and said they were still working on the missing screw on the panel in question. A short time later a new release came across on which was added a new gripe; this was not necessary as this specific screw was already in my original write-up. This was the new write-up: gripe: rt wing leading edge panel missing one screw. ... Action: adjusted nut plate and replaced missing screw; panel secure. I followed up on the radio and they told me that it was now fixed and that the nut-plate just had to be adjusted. We pushed back almost an hour late.I believe that maintenance falsified documents to get the flight out on time compromising the safety of my aircraft and the passengers and crew prior to an ETOPS flight. I also believe maintenance workers may be being pushed by their supervisors to cut corners in order to keep the integrity of the airlines schedule. This is unsatisfactory and cannot be condoned. These missing screws are very easily identified on a normal walkaround. Why is it that since these new paint jobs have been showing up; I have had to write up over 50% of the aircraft I have flown in the last eight months or so for missing screws? Over 50%! I do not believe maintenance personnel are conducting a thorough post fight of our aircraft.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B767-300 flight crew reported repeated failures by Maintenance personnel to either repair or properly defer; if appropriate; external fasteners found missing by the First Officer during his preflight walkaround. In addition; they would receive maintenance release prior to the completion of the alleged repair in an attempt to expedite the flight's departure...a violation of maintenance record keeping regulations.

Narrative: I went outside to begin my preflight of the aircraft. With our new white paint jobs; the ability to pick out missing screws under the wings and fuselage is very easy. I walked under the aircraft and found a missing fastener behind the lower rotating beacon; and then I went to the right wing and found an additional 3 missing fasteners in different locations. I continued my preflight and when I got to the left wing I noticed there was a panel with 4 missing screws in succession as well as 3 other missing screws in other locations on the left wing. This is a total of 11 missing screws on this aircraft. I had two Maintenance personnel follow me as I pointed out the 11 missing screws and; after notifying the Captain; followed up with write ups on ACARS: 7 screws missing left wing; 3 screws missing right wing; screw missing behind lower beacon. I then resumed my cockpit checks in preparation for our ETOPS departure. Within a few minutes we were told by the gate agent that we had been given a maintenance 'decision' time.At that point I went back downstairs to see what was happening with the repairs. I saw the original mechanic who told me they had fixed all the screws except one and he pointed out the one that wasn't fixed to me. It was one of the three screws missing on the right wing. He told me the nut backing plate was missing and he would just defer it. I told him; 'really; I have never heard of them just deferring a missing screw without at least speed taping it.' He said he would go check his paperwork. I took note of the panel he showed me. It was a small panel with maybe 4-7 screws and one of them was missing. Within a few minutes back in the cockpit a new maintenance release was printing. I took a look at it and there was no mention of a deferral. It did say; with regards to the 3 missing screws on the right wing: ACTION: RPL MISSING SCREWS. This was a falsification of official airline documents.I called Maintenance and told them the screw had not been replaced. He said he would look into it. At this point the Captain went down to see what was going on. The Captain told me that she met the supervisor down below and that the supervisor said they were in a rush to get the jet out for an on time departure. This could not have been true either as we were now already 30 minutes late. The supervisor also told her that they would have never let the airplane takeoff without the screw being fixed and would even call the Tower to stop the aircraft from taking off if need be. (I firmly believe that had I not gone down below and seen the screw was still missing; that we would have never heard from Maintenance again).The Captain then came back up and said they were still working on the missing screw on the panel in question. A short time later a new release came across on which was added a new gripe; this was not necessary as this specific screw was already in my original write-up. This was the new write-up: GRIPE: RT WING LEADING EDGE PANEL MISSING ONE SCREW. ... ACTION: ADJUSTED NUT PLATE AND REPLACED MISSING SCREW; PANEL SECURE. I followed up on the radio and they told me that it was NOW fixed and that the nut-plate just had to be adjusted. We pushed back almost an hour late.I believe that Maintenance falsified documents to get the flight out on time compromising the safety of my aircraft and the passengers and crew prior to an ETOPS flight. I also believe Maintenance workers may be being pushed by their supervisors to cut corners in order to keep the integrity of the airlines schedule. This is unsatisfactory and cannot be condoned. These missing screws are very easily identified on a normal walkaround. Why is it that since these new paint jobs have been showing up; I have had to write up over 50% of the aircraft I have flown in the last eight months or so for missing screws? Over 50%! I do not believe Maintenance personnel are conducting a thorough post fight of our aircraft.

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.