ON PREFLT ATX FLC NOTED STANDBY ATTITUDE GYROSCOPE HAD BEEN MEL'ED 4 DAYS. THOUGHT OK FOR 10 DAYS DEFERRED. MAINT CONCURRED AND FLEW THE ACFT. NEXT LNDG; ACFT TAKEN OTS SINCE THE DEFERRED ITEM WAS ONLY GOOD FOR 3 DAYS.

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DURING ACFT PREFLT; IT WAS NOTED THAT ACFT'S STANDBY ATTITUDE GYROSCOPE HAD BEEN MEL'ED 4 DAYS PRIOR. MOST ITEMS IN OUR MEL ARE CATEGORY 'C' (10-DAY) ITEMS; BUT THIS ONE IS A 'B' (3-DAY) ITEM. ACFT HAD BEEN SIGNED OFF BY MAINT 2 DAYS PRIOR AND FLOWN INTO OUR DOMICILE BY A DIFFERENT CREW THE PREVIOUS NIGHT. (THEY ALSO FAILED TO NOTICE THAT THIS DEFERRED ITEM WAS OVERDUE.) SINCE I WAS 'SURE' THE STANDBY GYROSCOPE WAS A 10-DAY ITEM; AND ALL OF THE MAINT PAPERWORK SEEMED IN ORDER; WE DEPARTED WITH OUR MORNING FLT. UPON ARR AT OUR HUB; WE WERE MET BY MECHS WHO HURRIEDLY REPLACED THE STANDBY GYROSCOPE AND THEN TOLD US; 'WE'RE TAKING THIS THING TO THE HANGAR BECAUSE IT NEEDS AN 'INSPECTION' RIGHT AWAY;' WHICH PROBABLY MEANS MAINT RECORD DOCTORING. BY NOW; I SUSPECTED THAT SOMETHING WASN'T QUITE RIGHT; SO I DUG OUT THE MEL AND DISCOVERED THAT THE STANDBY GYROSCOPE IS IN FACT A 3-DAY ITEM. I HAD TO SEARCH THE COCKPIT IN ORDER TO FIND THE PAD OF OLD LOG PAGES CONTAINING THE PAGE WITH THE ORIGINAL WRITE-UP. OUR MAINT DEPT USE A SYS OF CTL NUMBERS TO LOG IN DEFERRED MAINT ITEMS FOR OUR FLEET; BUT THIS ONE OBVIOUSLY SLIPPED THROUGH THE CRACKS. HENCEFORTH; I WILL NOT BE SO TRUSTING OF MAINT AND WILL TAKE AS MUCH TIME AS NECESSARY TO ASCERTAIN THE PAPERWORK STATUS OF THE AIRPLANE; EVEN IF IT CAUSES US THE TAKE A DELAY. HAVING WORKED UNDER PART 121 IN THE PAST; I LOOK FORWARD TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NEW REGS AT SCHEDULED PART 135 COMMUTERS. COMMUTER CREWS HAVE MORE TO DO; WITH LESS HELP; AND WITH LESS TIME IN WHICH TO DO IT; THAN DO PLTS WORKING UNDER PART 121. A DISPATCHER/FLT RELEASE SYS WOULD HAVE CAUGHT THIS MAINT OVERSIGHT DAYS BEFORE IT OCCURRED.