As an example, reading through the list of outstanding ADD's and trying to decipher them. Not only does he have to translate some of the unillegible scrawl that has been written by previous engineers, he has to understand what some of the TLA's mean. (Three letter abbreviations)!
On a Boeing I'm sure TLA is Throttle Lever Angle.
For my tuppence worth, if airlines would increase the size of defect entry areas in the Tech Log then maybe abbreviations would reduce. Who knows?
Another reason for their use is that out on a line station it is the Eng/Mech making the entry who also has to enter the details in the computer, either direct to a system database or a SITA signal to a third party base.
Unless you can type 70 words/min it all creeps into brew time.
