Narrative:

Arrived at the jet 1 hour before departure. During the preflight; realized this was the same aircraft we flew in the night before our short layover. I noticed there was a new maintenance release generated from ZZZ. We had no write-ups the night before; was a bit curious as to the new maintenance release and was unable to tell what work was performed from the paperwork we had. Went outside and did the walkaround. There I saw 2 panels on the #3 engine opened. One was completely open hanging down; and the other was flush but not secured with the latches. Talked to ZZZ operations; they said there was maintenance servicing performed overnight by contract maintenance. I said I needed to talk to them about the aircraft. They arrived and I explained what the situation was; and they were very apologetic for the mistake. The problem was this: they did internal drive generator oil servicing a few hours earlier and signed the aircraft off with a new maintenance release that was in the pouch and in my possession in the aircraft. It was almost 4 hours previous to this incident. They had no intention of coming back to the jet; the job was done and signed off as far as they were concerned. They did not properly complete the work by closing; latching and securing 2 panels on the engine nacelle. Well; this is obviously an example as to why we pilots do our walkarounds. Nonetheless; it is my opinion that this aft was released illegally by contract maintenance due to failing to properly finish the job in accordance with sops. The side note to this is the unfortunate fact that ZZZ operations assigned a delay code of cockpit checks. The reason we were delayed was because I; the captain; was busy doing their job (maintenance). I had to coordinate and facilitate the legal and prudent actions necessary with maintenance control to get this flight airborne safely.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: While performing a preflight on the same A320 he flew in the night before; a Captain reports the overnight contract maintenance mechanics had signed off the Maintenance Release; but failed to close and latch two panels; which included the Integrated Drive Generator servicing panel on #2 engine nacelle.

Narrative: Arrived at the jet 1 hour before departure. During the preflight; realized this was the same aircraft we flew in the night before our short layover. I noticed there was a new Maintenance Release generated from ZZZ. We had no write-ups the night before; was a bit curious as to the new Maintenance Release and was unable to tell what work was performed from the paperwork we had. Went outside and did the walkaround. There I saw 2 panels on the #3 engine opened. One was completely open hanging down; and the other was flush but not secured with the latches. Talked to ZZZ Operations; they said there was maintenance servicing performed overnight by Contract Maintenance. I said I needed to talk to them about the aircraft. They arrived and I explained what the situation was; and they were very apologetic for the mistake. The problem was this: they did Internal Drive Generator oil servicing a few hours earlier and signed the aircraft off with a new Maintenance Release that was in the pouch and in my possession in the aircraft. It was almost 4 hours previous to this incident. They had no intention of coming back to the jet; the job was done and signed off as far as they were concerned. They did not properly complete the work by closing; latching and securing 2 panels on the engine nacelle. Well; this is obviously an example as to why we pilots do our walkarounds. Nonetheless; it is my opinion that this aft was released illegally by Contract maintenance due to failing to properly finish the job in accordance with SOPs. The side note to this is the unfortunate fact that ZZZ Operations assigned a delay code of cockpit checks. The reason we were delayed was because I; the Captain; was busy doing their job (Maintenance). I had to coordinate and facilitate the legal and prudent actions necessary with Maintenance Control to get this flight airborne safely.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.