Narrative:

Flight showed up on flight tracker as [overnighting] in ZZZ. This is odd as we normally do not get a flight from ZZZ1 to us at all. I had asked planning if there was any particular reason for it flying to us as it would make our 5th (normally 4); and planning replied that they knew that it needed a line check and it was going to reposition to the east coast in the morning; still seems very odd it would need a line check and needed to be flown to ZZZ for that. We saw that during the day; there was a road trip to ZZZ1 for an engine having issues when being started. It was then that we started to piece together that there may be an actual reason it was headed our way. We received an automated ACARS message from the flight crew that they had another hung start and the captain was going to contact maintenance. Some time passed and we then noticed on flight tracker that it was in the air headed our way. I tried to make several phone calls to manager on duty and got no answer. We [later] got a phone call from maintenance control; he had said there was an issue with aircraft X that was headed our way. That was then followed by a phone call from [another personnel] from maintenance control and he was also relaying the same message to us about aircraft X. Plane landed safely in ZZZ and the crew brought it to the hangar. It was repositioned inside and we were trying to debrief the crew. The first officer said that they had to taxi it to the gate for fuel as the plane was positioned remotely on the field in ZZZ1 and it started fine (rh eng.) after pushback; it had a hung start but then were able to successfully get it started on the second attempt. Before we left to take them to the hangar; I looked into the log book and saw an open write up and the station was ZZZ1. It stated 'rt engine hung start aborted start @ 53% N2. Followed QRH. Attempted 2nd engine start w/out problems contacted maintenance.' no corrective action in the sign off block. I asked the flight crew on the way to the airport when is it allowable to fly an aircraft with an open write up? The captain and first officer both laughed and responded by saying 'that's what we thought but maintenance control said to leave it like that and fly it to ZZZ' where we would take care of it and joked about it some more. I had asked the captain who in maintenance control told them to do that and he could not give me a name as he stated that he had talked to so many controllers that day he could not remember. When talking with manager on duty; he took it as it was written up in flight and it's a common practice. I have seen it myself; but the kicker is that the crew write it up as the base they are going to not where they departed. If it was a mistake made by the captain then he would have spoken up and said something along the lines of 'oh I meant to say ZZZ; I'll correct it' or something similar; [and] not joke about it and play it off as no big deal or even said 'I wrote it up on the way here'. I understand that it was a repo flight with no passengers on board; but policies and procedures need to be followed all the time; not just when it's convenient. I feel that there was a pressure to get the aircraft with a known problem to a maintenance base.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Maintenance Technician reported an aircraft departed the previous station with an open write-up that was not properly addressed.

Narrative: Flight showed up on flight tracker as [Overnighting] in ZZZ. This is odd as we normally do not get a flight from ZZZ1 to us at all. I had asked Planning if there was any particular reason for it flying to us as it would make our 5th (normally 4); and Planning replied that they knew that it needed a line check and it was going to reposition to the East coast in the morning; still seems very odd it would need a line check and needed to be flown to ZZZ for that. We saw that during the day; there was a road trip to ZZZ1 for an engine having issues when being started. It was then that we started to piece together that there may be an actual reason it was headed our way. We received an automated ACARS message from the flight crew that they had another hung start and the Captain was going to contact Maintenance. Some time passed and we then noticed on flight tracker that it was in the air headed our way. I tried to make several phone calls to Manager on Duty and got no answer. We [later] got a phone call from Maintenance Control; he had said there was an issue with Aircraft X that was headed our way. That was then followed by a phone call from [another personnel] from Maintenance Control and he was also relaying the same message to us about Aircraft X. Plane landed safely in ZZZ and the crew brought it to the hangar. It was repositioned inside and we were trying to debrief the crew. The First Officer said that they had to taxi it to the gate for fuel as the plane was positioned remotely on the field in ZZZ1 and it started fine (RH Eng.) After pushback; it had a hung start but then were able to successfully get it started on the second attempt. Before we left to take them to the hangar; I looked into the log book and saw an open write up and the station was ZZZ1. It stated 'RT engine hung start aborted start @ 53% N2. Followed QRH. Attempted 2nd engine start w/out problems contacted Maintenance.' No corrective action in the sign off block. I asked the flight crew on the way to the airport when is it allowable to fly an aircraft with an open write up? The Captain and First Officer both laughed and responded by saying 'that's what we thought but Maintenance Control said to leave it like that and fly it to ZZZ' where we would take care of it and joked about it some more. I had asked the Captain who in Maintenance Control told them to do that and he could not give me a name as he stated that he had talked to so many controllers that day he could not remember. When talking with Manager on Duty; he took it as it was written up in flight and it's a common practice. I have seen it myself; but the kicker is that the crew write it up as the base they are going to not where they departed. If it was a mistake made by the Captain then he would have spoken up and said something along the lines of 'oh I meant to say ZZZ; I'll correct it' or something similar; [and] not joke about it and play it off as no big deal or even said 'I wrote it up on the way here'. I understand that it was a repo flight with no passengers on board; but policies and procedures need to be followed all the time; not just when it's convenient. I feel that there was a pressure to get the aircraft with a known problem to a maintenance base.

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.