Narrative:

September 2013; I arrived at the ZZZ base to ferry an AS350 helicopter to ZZZ1; a new base that was opening. Upon starting my pre-flight; I noticed that the red sock was placed on the cyclic. I called our base mechanic to inquire as to the status of the aircraft. The mechanic stated that he forgot to take the red sock off of the cyclic when he had pulled the aircraft from the hangar earlier that morning; the mechanic was located at the sister base in ZZZ2 and was unable to return to ZZZ to remove the red sock. However; he gave me verbal permission to remove the red sock so I could ferry the aircraft. I then called my airworthiness manager; mr. X; to inquire about this verbal permission. Mr. X and I discussed the status of the helicopter; and after advising him that I had checked the logbook and the ddl (delayed discrepancy list) and found no write-ups that would indicate that the red sock should be on the cyclic he advised me that it would be ok to remove the red sock so I could ferry the aircraft. I then continued my pre-flight inspection and found that the portable fire extinguisher had expired by two days. A different mechanic was called in to inspect the fire extinguisher; after this he also removed the red sock. The aircraft was then ferried to ZZZ1. Upon landing I was met at the aircraft by the roving mechanic who asked if a night vision goggle (nvg) filter had been added to the aircraft before it left ZZZ. I advised him that I was unaware of a nvg filter that was supposed to be put on the aircraft and that I had not been advised by the mechanic as such. Apparently the base mechanic at ZZZ had forgotten why the red sock was still on the aircraft; or never deferred the nvg filter to the ddl. The aircraft was not supposed to be flown before the nvg filter had been installed. Upon arrival at ZZZ1 and after the nvg filter was discovered as not being installed or written up on a ddl; it was done so by the mechanic along with mr. Y and the aircraft was returned to service. Maintenance needs to provide information as to why a red sock is located on the cyclic and also log the discrepancy in the logbook and MEL the item.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A pilot and an Avionics Aircraft Maintenance Technician (AMT) describe their involvement with an AS350 Eurocopter that was flown with a missing Night Vision Filter for their onboard Garmin 430 unit.

Narrative: September 2013; I arrived at the ZZZ Base to ferry an AS350 helicopter to ZZZ1; a new Base that was opening. Upon starting my pre-flight; I noticed that the RED sock was placed on the cyclic. I called our Base Mechanic to inquire as to the status of the aircraft. The Mechanic stated that he forgot to take the red sock off of the cyclic when he had pulled the aircraft from the hangar earlier that morning; the Mechanic was located at the sister Base in ZZZ2 and was unable to return to ZZZ to remove the red sock. However; he gave me verbal permission to remove the red sock so I could ferry the aircraft. I then called my Airworthiness Manager; Mr. X; to inquire about this verbal permission. Mr. X and I discussed the status of the helicopter; and after advising him that I had checked the logbook and the DDL (Delayed Discrepancy List) and found no write-ups that would indicate that the red sock should be on the cyclic he advised me that it would be OK to remove the red sock so I could ferry the aircraft. I then continued my pre-flight inspection and found that the portable fire extinguisher had expired by two days. A different Mechanic was called in to inspect the fire extinguisher; after this he also removed the red sock. The aircraft was then ferried to ZZZ1. Upon landing I was met at the aircraft by the roving Mechanic who asked if a Night Vision Goggle (NVG) filter had been added to the aircraft before it left ZZZ. I advised him that I was unaware of a NVG filter that was supposed to be put on the aircraft and that I had not been advised by the Mechanic as such. Apparently the Base Mechanic at ZZZ had forgotten why the red sock was still on the aircraft; or never deferred the NVG filter to the DDL. The aircraft was not supposed to be flown BEFORE the NVG filter had been installed. Upon arrival at ZZZ1 and after the NVG filter was discovered as not being installed or written up on a DDL; it was done so by the Mechanic along with Mr. Y and the aircraft was returned to service. Maintenance needs to provide information as to why a red sock is located on the cyclic and also log the discrepancy in the logbook and MEL the item.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.