Narrative:

Just before pushback one of our ramp agents came into the cockpit and showed me a picture of what he thought was a dent on the vertical stabilizer. I proceeded outside and checked to make sure there was a dent that I was looking at about three by two inches about 40 ft high (1.5 ft below the top of the vertical stabilizer). I called dispatch and he passed me to maintenance control. I reported what was found. Maintenance control informed me that there was a small dent already reported on that area. I told them this was not small and it looked like there was some damage to the aircraft. They told me to write it up and to call contract maintenance. Luckily we had two of our mechanics at the station. They came to the aircraft and were able to get close to the dent and take pictures. They called maintenance and after conference with them they informed me that the checkup was going to take a few hours. I informed the gate agent and dispatch and the flight was canceled. When and how the dent happened is totally unknown.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 flight crew reported they were informed of possible damage near the top of the vertical stabilizer. After maintenance examination; the aircraft was taken out of service.

Narrative: Just before pushback one of our Ramp Agents came into the cockpit and showed me a picture of what he thought was a dent on the vertical stabilizer. I proceeded outside and checked to make sure there was a dent that I was looking at about three by two inches about 40 ft high (1.5 ft below the top of the vertical stabilizer). I called Dispatch and he passed me to Maintenance Control. I reported what was found. Maintenance Control informed me that there was a small dent already reported on that area. I told them this was not small and it looked like there was some damage to the aircraft. They told me to write it up and to call Contract Maintenance. Luckily we had two of our Mechanics at the Station. They came to the aircraft and were able to get close to the dent and take pictures. They called Maintenance and after conference with them they informed me that the checkup was going to take a few hours. I informed the gate agent and Dispatch and the flight was canceled. When and how the dent happened is totally unknown.

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.