A B727-200 freighter was loaded with a clearly marked unairworthy ballast pallet.

Attributes
ACN	459146
Time
Date	199912
Day	Thu
Local Time Of Day	1201 To 1800
Place
Locale Reference	airport : lemd.airport
State Reference	FO
Altitude	agl single value : 0
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Operator	common carrier : air carrier
Make Model Name	B727-200
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	ground : preflight ground : parked
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Affiliation	company : air carrier
Function	flight crew : second officer
Qualification	pilot : private pilot : multi engine pilot : instrument pilot : flight engineer pilot : atp pilot : commercial
Experience	flight time last 90 days : 80 flight time total : 6100 flight time type : 400
ASRS Report	459146
Person 2
Affiliation	company : air carrier
Function	flight crew : captain oversight : pic
Qualification	pilot : atp
Events
Anomaly	aircraft equipment problem : critical non adherence : published procedure
Independent Detector	other flight crewa
Resolutory Action	none taken : detected after the fact
Consequence	other
Supplementary
Problem Areas	Company
Primary Problem	Company

Narrative:

Flew trip from paris (cdg) to madrid (mad), spain as crew member. On ground at madrid, observed a 'non airworthy' sticker on the ballast pallet which was loaded at station to balance an almost empty aircraft.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B727-200 FREIGHTER WAS LOADED WITH A CLRLY MARKED UNAIRWORTHY BALLAST PALLET.

Narrative: FLEW TRIP FROM PARIS (CDG) TO MADRID (MAD), SPAIN AS CREW MEMBER. ON GND AT MADRID, OBSERVED A 'NON AIRWORTHY' STICKER ON THE BALLAST PALLET WHICH WAS LOADED AT STATION TO BAL AN ALMOST EMPTY ACFT.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2007 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.