Narrative:

Aircraft X had a lightning strike pilot write up going into ZZZ. The contract mechanic performed a 'walk around inspection including looking for lightning strikes per standard inspection procedure'. The aircraft was then released for a ferry flight to ZZZ1. Upon arrival our mechanic did a lightning strike inspection that is required per maintenance and aircraft manuals. Aircraft damage was found. The aircraft was not given a proper inspection and flew with undocumented damage. Maintenance manual requires all lightning strike documentation to be sent to maintenance control for review before being released for flight. The logbook documentation was not correct. After the damage was found; an engineering authorization had to be written for an interim repair before the aircraft could fly.I think as just a simple safety factor the company would want (per the maintenance manual) only a [company] mechanic to perform a lightning strike inspection over the whole aircraft before it is released for a ferry flight. What if several rivets on the top of leading edge of horizontal stabilizer were blown out. Now the leading edge departs the aircraft? Now what? Using contract maintenance to just do a visual walk around when a known aircraft damage inspection is required doesn't save that much time and money for a downline. Now we are finding more aircraft are being flown from outstations to maintenance following this same procedure.adhere to the maintenance manual and aircraft maintenance manual policies and procedures when an aircraft has a damage event. Follow the maintenance manual lightning strike inspection policy and don't fly an aircraft with possible damage putting lives at risk. Stop trying to save money by not sending [company] mechanics downline to perform these safety inspections.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Lead Technician reported that a B737 did not have the proper inspection performed after a lightning strike.

Narrative: Aircraft X had a lightning strike pilot write up going into ZZZ. The contract mechanic performed a 'walk around inspection including looking for lightning strikes per standard inspection procedure'. The aircraft was then released for a ferry flight to ZZZ1. Upon arrival our mechanic did a lightning strike inspection that is required per maintenance and aircraft manuals. Aircraft damage was found. The aircraft was not given a proper inspection and flew with undocumented damage. Maintenance Manual requires all lightning strike documentation to be sent to maintenance control for review before being released for flight. The logbook documentation was not correct. After the damage was found; an Engineering Authorization had to be written for an interim repair before the aircraft could fly.I think as just a simple safety factor the company would want (per the Maintenance Manual) only a [company] mechanic to perform a lightning strike inspection over the whole aircraft before it is released for a ferry flight. What if several rivets on the top of leading edge of horizontal stabilizer were blown out. Now the leading edge departs the aircraft? Now what? Using contract maintenance to just do a visual walk around when a known aircraft damage inspection is required doesn't save that much time and money for a downline. Now we are finding more aircraft are being flown from outstations to maintenance following this same procedure.Adhere to the Maintenance Manual and Aircraft Maintenance Manual policies and procedures when an aircraft has a damage event. Follow the Maintenance Manual lightning strike inspection policy and don't fly an aircraft with possible damage putting lives at risk. Stop trying to save money by not sending [company] mechanics downline to perform these safety inspections.

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.