Narrative:

Today; I have been informed the company safety office has filed a voluntary disclosure report (vdr) with the FAA about a flight which I was the first officer. I am not sure why the safety office elected to file a vdr with the FAA; because I believe that this flight operated legally from ZZZ1 back to the us [mainland]. If this flight did not operate legally; then company maintenance control; legal; dispatch; and every other person involved with obtaining a legal operating certificate for that flight leg; would have been wrong; and would have knowingly deceived the crew about the legal status of the aircraft. I do not believe this to be the case! But why am I saying this? I believe the flight operating to ZZZ1 did not have a legal operating certificate. When I reviewed the flight release and the aml for the flight ZZZ to ZZZ1; before I even left the hotel; I noticed that a/C (the a/C currently enroute to ZZZ1) was not allowed to operate outside of the 'lower 48.' the aml entry said; in part: temp registration (pink slip) installed on aircraftaircraft to operate in lower 48 states only.permanent registration needs to be installed.when I met the captain at our pickup time at the hotel; I informed him of this situation; and that I believe we better not touch the aircraft or get near it; until the FAA had issued some kind of paperwork that would change the legal status of that aircraft. On our arrival at the ZZZ1 ramp; the captain informed the ramp agent and the dispatcher of the aircraft's legal status. He also contacted the maintenance lead. The mechanic informed us that he had also noticed the restriction of this aircraft to the lower 48 states only and had contacted maintenance control when the aircraft was still an hour from landing at ZZZ1. In his words: 'once I saw the aircraft wheels touch down; my heart sank; because I knew that now we had an illegal airplane in ZZZ1.' dispatch informed us then that we would have to wait at least 3 hours; because legal was not even at their offices. They would get in touch with the FAA. Later the captain was told to wait maybe 2 more hours. Finally; we were told that the FAA had issued a temporary flywire authorizing the aircraft to operate back to ZZZ. The maintenance lead showed us the form and we were told that we could now start our preflight duties and get the aircraft ready to operate back to ZZZ.the aml entry of this authorization read; in part: FAA liaison has provided a flywire for this aircraft. It needs to be installed next to the temporary registration already on the aircraft. Both the temporary and the flywire must be on the aircraft. Flywire installed next to pink slip. FAA provided temporary certificate of registration to a/C back to ZZZ.we saw the temporary fly wire installed next to the temporary certificate of registration. The captain even sent an ACARS message to dispatch asking if that was now all we needed to operate legally out of ZZZ1. He got an affirmative reply. The maintenance lead also assured us that the paperwork for the aircraft was now legal and we could operate back to ZZZ. At that point we both felt comfortable to operate flight from ZZZ1 to ZZZ. We finished our preflight duties and departed ZZZ1 with an almost 6 hour delay.I cannot begin to speculate who has access to the aml entries of our aircraft; who decides which aircraft operates where; and why so many people missed the aircraft restriction to the 'lower 48 states only'. I only know that the aircraft was almost in ZZZ1 when I saw the restriction on my review of the flight paperwork before we left the hotel. The captain and I did not route the aircraft to ZZZ1; we did not dispatch it to ZZZ1; we did not fly it to ZZZ1; and we did not touch it in ZZZ1 until we were reasonably assured that we had a legal operating certificate on the aircraft to operate back to ZZZ.I suggest diligence and attention to detail.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B767 flight crew discovered during preflight that their assigned aircraft at a foreign airport was restricted to flight in the lower 48 states. The crew refused the aircraft until the FAA issued a temporary aircraft certificate permitting flight from the foreign airport to a U.S. airport.

Narrative: Today; I have been informed the company Safety Office has filed a Voluntary Disclosure Report (VDR) with the FAA about a flight which I was the First Officer. I am not sure why the Safety Office elected to file a VDR with the FAA; because I believe that this flight operated legally from ZZZ1 back to the U.S. [Mainland]. If this flight did NOT operate legally; then company Maintenance Control; Legal; Dispatch; and every other person involved with obtaining a legal Operating Certificate for that flight leg; would have been wrong; and would have knowingly deceived the crew about the legal status of the aircraft. I do not believe this to be the case! But why am I saying this? I believe the flight operating to ZZZ1 did not have a legal operating certificate. When I reviewed the flight release and the AML for the flight ZZZ to ZZZ1; before I even left the hotel; I noticed that A/C (the A/C currently enroute to ZZZ1) was not allowed to operate outside of the 'Lower 48.' The AML entry said; in part: Temp Registration (Pink Slip) installed on AircraftAircraft to operate in Lower 48 States ONLY.Permanent Registration needs to be installed.When I met the captain at our pickup time at the hotel; I informed him of this situation; and that I believe we better not touch the aircraft or get near it; until the FAA had issued some kind of paperwork that would change the legal status of that aircraft. On our arrival at the ZZZ1 ramp; the Captain informed the ramp agent and the dispatcher of the aircraft's legal status. He also contacted the Maintenance Lead. The Mechanic informed us that he had also noticed the restriction of this aircraft to the lower 48 states only and had contacted Maintenance Control when the aircraft was still an hour from landing at ZZZ1. In his words: 'Once I saw the aircraft wheels touch down; my heart sank; because I knew that now we had an illegal airplane in ZZZ1.' Dispatch informed us then that we would have to wait at least 3 hours; because Legal was not even at their offices. They would get in touch with the FAA. Later the Captain was told to wait maybe 2 more hours. Finally; we were told that the FAA had issued a temporary FlyWire authorizing the aircraft to operate back to ZZZ. The Maintenance Lead showed us the form and we were told that we could now start our preflight duties and get the aircraft ready to operate back to ZZZ.The AML entry of this authorization read; in part: FAA liaison has provided a FlyWire for this aircraft. It needs to be installed next to the temporary registration already on the aircraft. Both the temporary and the FlyWire must be on the aircraft. FlyWire installed next to pink slip. FAA provided temporary Certificate of Registration to A/C back to ZZZ.We saw the temporary fly wire installed next to the temporary certificate of registration. The Captain even sent an ACARS message to dispatch asking if that was now all we needed to operate legally out of ZZZ1. He got an affirmative reply. The Maintenance Lead also assured us that the paperwork for the aircraft was now legal and we could operate back to ZZZ. At that point we both felt comfortable to operate flight from ZZZ1 to ZZZ. We finished our preflight duties and departed ZZZ1 with an almost 6 hour delay.I cannot begin to speculate who has access to the AML entries of our aircraft; who decides which aircraft operates where; and why so many people missed the aircraft restriction to the 'lower 48 states only'. I only know that the aircraft was almost in ZZZ1 when I saw the restriction on my review of the flight paperwork before we left the hotel. The Captain and I did not route the aircraft to ZZZ1; we did not dispatch it to ZZZ1; we did not fly it to ZZZ1; and we did not touch it in ZZZ1 until we were reasonably assured that we had a legal operating certificate on the aircraft to operate back to ZZZ.I suggest diligence and attention to detail.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.