A B737-300 WAS DISPATCHED IN NON COMPLIANCE WITH A HORIZ STABILIZER LEADING EDGE DENT DAMAGE OUT OF LIMITS PER THE STRUCTURAL REPAIR MANUAL.

Narrative

I RECEIVED A RADIO CALL FROM A MAINT TECH VXVX IN REGARDS TO ACFT XYZ LEADING EDGE HORIZ STABILIZER DENTS. I WENT TO ACFT AT GATE XX; L-HAND LEADING EDGE HAD (3) DENTS. INBOARD DENT HAD A MARKING; OUTBOARD DENT HAD A MARKING; MEANING THEY WERE PREVIOUSLY DEFERRED. THE MIDDLE DENT WAS THE MAIN DENT IN QUESTION. I HAD THE TECHNICIAN PULL UP THE B737-300 SRM (STRUCTURAL REPAIR MANUAL) TO SEE WHAT THE LIMITS WERE. TECHNICIAN CAME BACK TO ACFT WITH SRM 737-300. IT WAS DETERMINED THAT DENT WAS WITHIN LIMITS. LOG PAGE WAS SIGNED OFF AS 'PER SRM; DENT IS WITHIN LIMITS.' MARKING APPLIED TO DENT AREA. ACFT PROCEEDED TO WWW. IN THE NEXT HOUR; I BECAME CURIOUS ABOUT ANY TIME LIMITATIONS THAT MAY BE ASSOCIATED WITH THIS DENT. IT WAS THEN THAT I PULLED UP THE SRM TO FURTHER CHK ANY LIMITS; AND FOUND THAT 2 PAGES HAD BEEN LEFT OUT. ONE PAGE HAD THE ZONE DIMENSIONS WHICH GAVE YOU A CERTAIN REPAIR WITH FLT HOURS. IN THIS CASE WE FELL INTO ZONE 3. ZONE 3 STIPULATES THAT FOR A 3 INCH WIDE BY .187 DEEP DENT: 1) YOU FILL DENT PER SRM'S. 2) SEAL DAMAGED WITH ALUMINUM SPEED TAPE. 3) MAKE A DETAILED VISUAL INSPECTION OF THE DAMAGE AT EACH 400 FLT HR INTERVALS; IF THERE ARE CRACKS OR THE DAMAGE HAS BECOME LARGER; REPAIR THE DAMAGE. 4) INSTALL A PERMANENT REPAIR AFTER NO MORE THAN 5000 FLT HRS OR 18 MONTHS; THAT WHICH OCCURS FIRST. I THEN NOTIFIED MY MGR ON DUTY OF THIS SIT. I ALSO NOTIFIED ZZZ ACR MAINT OF THE SIT.