Aircraft Tech Log Signature

[Yossarian]

I would appreciate some input on the requirement for the aircraft's tech log to be released by the inbound captain's signature.

If you take over an aircraft and the tech log 'Release' has not been signed by the inbound captain, and he is not available, what is required before you can sign the 'Acceptance'?

I am not sure how relevant this is to different regulatory areas, so any refernces to documentation would be appreciated.

[Max Angle]

what is required before you can sign the 'Acceptance'?

Normally a good forgery of the inbound skippers signature is all that is required.

[TURIN]

Contact the inbound captain get approval to sign it on his/her behalf.

Witnessed one such event many years ago.

The inbound captain was already airborne as positioning crew on another flight. Company contacted the flight asked to relay the request to the travelling captain and then relayed the ok via company radio again. Very long winded, took about half an hour. Red faces all round.

The captain taking the flight out had already had a previous rollocking for accepting a Tech log without an inbound signature so he had due cause to be so exact.

[sb_sfo]

I've seen it done both ways. One time a chat was had between 2 expat captains, and the sig was "phoned in". The other time, the captain was located at dinner, and a $100 round trip taxi ride back to the field from downtown. 30 minutes delay and, yes, great shame. Checking for the capt. sig in the log became a teaching point for maint. after the last one...

[kijangnim]

Greetings,

I think that the captain's signature has a dual purpose, the first one is to certify that the information he entered; chock time and so on, are correct, and the second is to testify that he is accepting the aircraft with all data entered in the tech log.
It doesnot have any impact on Airworthiness status of the aircraft, which is the role of maintenance, and aircraft documents validity.

[Tail-take-off]

There is a moral to this story:

Make sure your signature can easily be forged.

[Otto Throttle]

In our company it is acceptable for an engineer to 'sign in' the a/c provided that the outgoing Captain (or FO if Captain is uncontactable) is able to confirm maintenance status and inbound fuel remaining. Failing that, we are able to use inbound flight paperwork to confirm required details, and tanks can be dipped as a confirmation that fuel readings are indeed correct.

I'm surprised you have no procedure in your company Ops manual.

[goeasy]

Now I understand why our company has no requirement (space) for inbound Capt sig... makes life much easier when there is nothing to forget!

[Tinwacker]

mister sig'

The company I work for has an ENG procedure documented for the rare case of Capt forgetting to sign the log.
The Operations dept will try to contact both crew members and if possible get them to sign or confirm if any defects should have been entered.
In exceptional cases where no crewmember can be contacted and to avoid significant service disruption, ENG will conduct a review of the aircraft status to enable the aircraft to be released for the next service.

TW