Narrative:

After boarding; an FAA inspector boarded our airplane and said he just wanted to check out the aircraft logbook and was not going to be observing our flight. He went through our logbook and left the flight deck. The FAA inspector walked around the outside of our airplane. We finished all of our weight and balance paperwork and were ready to depart. The FAA inspector returned and told us he found a possible maintenance problem on our #2 engine and would like us to look at it. I went out to the #2 engine and he pointed out some fluid on the #2 prop hub near one of the prop blades. I returned to the flight deck and called dispatch and then was connected to maintenance control. The FAA inspector also took the first officer out to point out what he saw. While talking to maintenance control I entered the discrepancy in the aircraft maintenance log. I was informed that contract maintenance was contacted and will be coming to check out the issue. Contract maintenance arrived; performed maintenance; and asked us to do an engine run-up. He then came to the cockpit and told us the maintenance was cleared. He said he needed to call maintenance control to complete sign off. He said he was going to return to his office and finish paperwork and had to make copies and fax some information. When he returned with our logbook he said after talking to maintenance control he was unable to sign off the logbook. He said he found a screw missing in the prop hub and was unable to replace it. He told me to call maintenance control. I called and they informed me we would be ferrying the aircraft and our flight had been canceled. Contract maintenance said he would go to his office to get the faxed ferry permit and would come back and complete all the logbook information. When he returned; he wrote up the missing screw and wrote the ferry information in our aircraft logbook. We then ferried the aircraft.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: FAA Inspector discovered a maintenance issues with a Dash 8 propeller as the flight crew was preparing to depart with passengers. Maintenance found a screw missing which could not be replaced; resulting in a canceled flight and ferry for maintenance.

Narrative: After boarding; an FAA Inspector boarded our airplane and said he just wanted to check out the aircraft logbook and was not going to be observing our flight. He went through our logbook and left the flight deck. The FAA inspector walked around the outside of our airplane. We finished all of our weight and balance paperwork and were ready to depart. The FAA Inspector returned and told us he found a possible maintenance problem on our #2 engine and would like us to look at it. I went out to the #2 engine and he pointed out some fluid on the #2 prop hub near one of the prop blades. I returned to the flight deck and called Dispatch and then was connected to Maintenance Control. The FAA Inspector also took the First Officer out to point out what he saw. While talking to Maintenance Control I entered the discrepancy in the aircraft maintenance log. I was informed that Contract Maintenance was contacted and will be coming to check out the issue. Contract Maintenance arrived; performed maintenance; and asked us to do an engine run-up. He then came to the cockpit and told us the maintenance was cleared. He said he needed to call Maintenance Control to complete sign off. He said he was going to return to his office and finish paperwork and had to make copies and fax some information. When he returned with our logbook he said after talking to Maintenance Control he was unable to sign off the logbook. He said he found a screw missing in the prop hub and was unable to replace it. He told me to call Maintenance Control. I called and they informed me we would be ferrying the aircraft and our flight had been canceled. Contract Maintenance said he would go to his office to get the faxed ferry permit and would come back and complete all the logbook information. When he returned; he wrote up the missing screw and wrote the ferry information in our aircraft logbook. We then ferried the aircraft.

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.