A B737-400 WAS OPERATED IN NON COMPLIANCE WITH A DEFERRED FLT CTL COMPUTER CAT IIIA TEST OVERDUE.

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AS A LEAD FOR ACFT XYZ ON DEC/XA/98; I ASSIGNED 2 MECHS TO COMPLETE AN 'A' CHK ON THE ACFT. SINCE NO ONE ON MY CREW WAS CAT II/IIIA CERTIFIED; WE DEFERRED THAT STOP OF THE CHK AS PER THE COMPANY MAINT POLICY PROC MANUAL WZXX PAGE Y. ALL STEPS WERE FOLLOWED. THE ERROR ON OUR PART OCCURRED WHEN WE PERFORMED THE COMPUTER ENTRY OF THE LOGSHEET. ALTHOUGH I SIGNED THE ITEM OFF IN THE LOGBOOK STATING THE TIME RESTRAINTS LEFT TO PERFORM THIS STEP; I MAY NOT HAVE TOLD THE MECH WHO ENTERED THE ITEM IN THE COMPUTER TO FILL IN THE SECTION FOR TIME REMAINING AS REQUIRED. I'VE BEEN INFORMED THAT PLANNING ONLY TRACKS THESE ITEMS WHEN FLAGGED BY THE COMPUTER. SINCE IT WASN'T ENTERED; THE ACFT FLEW PAST ITS TIME LIMIT TO ACCOMPLISH THIS CHK. AS A SUGGESTION TO AVOID THE RECURRENCE OF THIS HAPPENING AGAIN; I WILL MAKE SURE I TYPE MY OWN DATA ENTRY INTO THE COMPUTER AS I WAS MORE AWARE OF THE TIME RESTRAINT ON THE ITEM. I WOULD ALSO SUGGEST THAT ACR CHANGES THEIR DATA ENTRY PROGRAM SO THAT THE CURSOR DOES NOT LET YOU PROCEED PAST THIS SECTION WITHOUT ANSWERING YES OR NO TO WHETHER THE ITEM IS TIME LIMITED. ALTHOUGH THIS ALL OCCURRED DEC/XA/98; I HAVE ONLY BEEN NOTIFIED OF THE MISTAKE BY COMPANY MGMNT MAR/XB/99.