AN A320 WITH A SPOILER FAULT ANNUNCIATED WAS DISPATCHED WITH AN IMPROPER MAINT SIGN OFF AND FLEW 4 LEGS; SUGGESTING ON TIME PERFORMANCE MAY BE BECOMING A HIGHER PRIORITY THAN SAFETY.

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DAY 1 OF A 4 DAY TRIP BEGAN IN DEN WITH A SCHEDULED XA05 DEP FOR SAN; FLT PLANNED AND RELEASED. AS WE STARTED ENGINES AND BEGAN TO TAXI; WE GOT AN ECAM MSG: FLT CONT SPOILER 4 FAULT. WE STOPPED THE ACFT AND CALLED MAINT ON THE RADIO. WE WERE DIRECTED TO CYCLE SEVERAL FLT CTL COMPUTERS' PUSH BUTTON SWITCHES; WHICH DID NOT CLR THE FAULT. WE THEN WERE ASKED TO CYCLE SEVERAL SYSTEM CB'S. AGAIN THE FAULT DID NOT CLR. MAINTENANCE THEN REQUESTED THAT WE RETURN TO THE BLOCKS. MAINT TOOK THE ACFT OUT OF SERVICE AND WE ARRANGED WITH DISPATCH FOR A REPLACEMENT ACFT. WE EVENTUALLY AND UNEVENTFULLY DEPARTED TO SAN AND CONTINUED ON WITH OUR TRIP. THE NEXT DAY IN ORD; WE WERE FLT PLANNING OUR NEXT LEG TO BOS AND NOTICED THAT WE WERE SCHEDULED TO FLY THE SAME ACFT THAT WE HAD PROBS WITH IN DEN THE DAY BEFORE. THE MAINT RELEASE SHOWED THE ORIGINAL WRITE-UP: GRIPE: FLT CTL SPOILER FAULT; #4 SPOILERS SHOW AMBER XX. UNABLE TO CLR WITH PB SWITCHES AND SECS FWC C/BS. ACTION: DEFERRED NEEDS SPOILER CONTROL. THE MEL/OPS PLACARD READ: NO 5 SPOILER/SPEED BRAKE INDICATIONS ON ECAM F/CTL AND WHEEL PAGE INOPERATIVE. READING CAREFULLY THE TEXT OF BOTH THE WRITE-UP AND THE DEFERRAL; THERE WERE TWO APPARENT INCONSISTENCIES. 1) THE SPOILER SYSTEM AFFECTED WAS THE #4 SPOILER; BUT THE #5 SYSTEM WAS THE DEFERRED. 2) THE FAULT WAS IN THE SPOILER SYSTEM BUT THE SPOILER INDICATION WAS DEFERRED. WE NOTIFIED MAINT IMMEDIATELY OF OUR DISCOVERY AND HAD DIFFICULTY BRINGING TO THEIR UNDERSTANDING THE TROUBLING NATURE OF THIS DISCREPANCY. WHILE MAINT WAS SORTING ALL OF THIS OUT; WE CALLED THE FLT OPS DUTY MGR AND VOICED OUR CONCERN OVER THE FACT THAT THIS ACFT HAD ALREADY FLOWN 4 SEGMENTS WITH THE CURRENT (CONFUSING) MAINT RELEASE. NO ONE COULD CONFIRM THE STATUS OF THE FLT CTL/SPOILER SYSTEM EVEN AFTER IT HAD ALREADY FLOWN 4 LEGS! WHY DIDN'T THE MAINT CTLRS SEE THE CONFLICT WITHIN THE MAINT RELEASE? WHY DIDN'T THE FLT CREWS SEE AND QUESTION THE INCONSISTENCIES IN THE MRD BEFORE SIGNING THEIR RELEASE? COULD IT BE THAT THE L HAND WAS NOT TALKING TO THE R HAND AT MAINT CTL? COULD IT BE THAT THE FLT CREWS WERE RUSHED DURING THEIR PREFLT DUTIES AND DIDN'T NOTICE THE CONFUSED NATURE OF THE TEXT MAINT RELEASE? THE REALITY IS THAT THE ACFT PROBABLY FLEW 4 LEGS WITH AN INOP SPOILER SYSTEM WITHOUT THE KNOWLEDGE OF MAINT OR THE FLT CREW! NEVER IS THERE AN INSTANCE WHERE 'ON TIME' SHOULD SUPERSEDE SAFETY. ALTHOUGH WHEN IT COMES TO TRYING TO DO OUR BEST TO HELP KEEP THE AIRLINE ON TIME; WE JUST MAY BE OUR WORST ENEMY.