A DORNIER 328 WAS DISPATCHED IN NON COMPLIANCE WITH THE LAVATORY ASHTRAY MISSING AND THE LAVATORY IN USE IN CONFLICT WITH THE MEL REQUIREMENT.

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ACFT X WAS OPERATED INADVERTENTLY BY 3 CREWS ON AUG/XB/01 AND AUG/XC/01 WITH AN OPEN MAINT WRITE-UP. THE MAINT WRITE-UP WAS FOR A MISSING ASK TRAY IN THE ACFT LAVATORY. THERE WERE NO SAFETY ISSUES INVOLVED. THE MISSING ASHTRAY WAS OPENED ON LOG PAGE XXX ON AUG/XA/01 BY MAINT PERSONNEL. SUBSEQUENTLY MANY OTHER ITEMS WERE WRITTEN UP ON THE AIRPLANE AND WERE DULY CLRED BY MAINT. NUMEROUS LOG PAGES WERE EMPLOYED IN THIS PROCESS; AS WELL AS SEVERAL PAGES FOR FLYING. THIS WRITE-UP WAS NOT REFLECTED IN THE CURRENT OR IMMEDIATELY PREVIOUS PACKET OF LOGBOOK PAGES. THE LOG PAGE WITH THE WRITE-UP WAS NOW 'RETIRED' TO ANOTHER SPOT IN THE ACFT AND NOT KEPT WITH THE 'ACTIVE' PAGES. DESPITE A THOROUGH CHK OF THE LOG ENTRIES ON THE CURRENT AND PREVIOUS LOGBOOK; THE MISSING ASHTRAY WAS MISSED BY MY CREW; A PREVIOUS CREW; AND A SUBSEQUENT CREW. DURING THE DAY (AUG/XB/01) THE ACFT UNDERWENT A DAILY SVC CHK BY MAINT. THE MAINT CREW ALSO MISSED THE MISSING ASHTRAY WRITE-UP. SUGGEST THAT ALL LOG PAGES WITH WRITE-UPS BE KEPT WITH THE RECENT PAGES UNTIL ALL WRITE-UPS HAVE BEEN CLRED.