AN MD80 COCKPIT OVERHEAD ANNUNCIATOR LIGHTING WAS RPTED TWICE BY THE SAME CREW ON SEPARATE DAYS AND WAS CLRED BY A MECH AFTER CHKING OK.

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ON OCT/XA/98; ACFT XYZ CAME INTO MY GATE AT ZZZ WITH 5 INBOUND WRITE-UPS ON LIGHTS BEING INOP ON THE OVERHEAD ANNUNCIATOR PANEL AND NO SPARE BULBS. THE ACFT WAS LATE COMING IN AND SLOW TO UNLOAD. SO WHEN I GOT TO THE COCKPIT THE OUTBOUND CREW WERE IN WITH ME. I PERCEIVED THAT THE TABS REFERRED TO IN THE WRITE-UP WAS THE LOCKING TABS ON THE PANEL. WITHOUT THE PANEL LOCKED DOWN THE BULB WILL NOT CONTACT THE TERMINAL AND NOT LIGHT. I CHKED THE PANELS FOR SECURITY AND FOUND THEM TO BE SECURELY IN PLACE. I PRESSED THE TEST SWITCH AND WAS SURPRISED TO FIND ALL BUT 2 BLANK ANNUNCIATORS LIT BRIGHTLY. THE OUTBOUND CAPT ALSO CHKED IT AND SAID HE SAW NO PROB EITHER. I REPLENISHED THE SPARE LAMP KIT AND SIGNED OFF THE WRITE-UPS AS FOUND OBVIOUSLY SVCABLE NO DARK SPOTS NOTED. THE ACFT FLEW FOR 3 DAYS WITH NO OTHER CREW RPTS ON THE ANNUNCIATOR LIGHTS UNTIL THE SAME PLT WENT THROUGH THE PINK PAGES IN THE LOGBOOK AND WROTE THEM UP AGAIN NEAR VERBATIM. I DID ADDRESS THE PROB IN THE VERY SHORT PERIOD OF TIME THAT I HAD AND DETERMINED THAT THE ANNUNCIATOR WAS SVCABLE.