Narrative:

The [inbound] captain briefed me on a maintenance problem. Enroute they had an amber display source light; but with little if any associated failures on any du [display unit]. They contacted dispatch via ACARS and requested contract maintenance on arrival. At the gate; he called dispatch and spoke at length with maintenance control. He was advised to recycle various circuit breakers which he did and the light extinguished. He was then advised to make an information-only logbook entry detailing what had been done. Contract maintenance never showed up at the aircraft.the captain briefed me on all that had transpired and we discussed the information-only entry. We agreed that we should get the chief pilot on duty involved; and he was called. He told the captain that it was okay to recycle the circuit breakers and make the information-only entry. We were both okay with that and the first officer and I proceeded uneventfully to our destination.as I was briefing the outbound captain on the deu [display electronic unit] situation and writeup; a mechanic showed up and stated that he was there to change out the deu and reinstall associated software. The first officer and I said our goodbyes and headed home.the MEL states that information-only items concern system anomalies that can be corrected to normal system operations; to include recycling of circuit breakers. In this case; we had a non deferrable item that was 'corrected' by recycling circuit breakers and flown to our destination.the fact that maintenance control decided to change out the deu and software upon our arrival where we had mechanics and parts makes me wonder if that in fact should have been done in the first airport. At a minimum; and in hindsight; contract maintenance should have recycled the circuit breakers and signed off on the logbook discrepancy; rather than having the captain doing that. In this case; even though the chief pilot said it was okay to proceed; the prudent thing to do would have been to enter the discrepancy in the logbook and have contract maintenance take it from there.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737-NG Captain questioned the propriety of making an 'info-only' entry in the AML at a non-maintenance station when; upon arrival at their destination-a company maintenance station-mechanics promptly arrived to change out the affected components and the related software.

Narrative: The [inbound] Captain briefed me on a maintenance problem. Enroute they had an amber display source light; but with little if any associated failures on any DU [Display Unit]. They contacted Dispatch via ACARS and requested Contract Maintenance on arrival. At the gate; he called Dispatch and spoke at length with Maintenance Control. He was advised to recycle various circuit breakers which he did and the light extinguished. He was then advised to make an information-only logbook entry detailing what had been done. Contract Maintenance never showed up at the aircraft.The Captain briefed me on all that had transpired and we discussed the information-only entry. We agreed that we should get the Chief Pilot on Duty involved; and he was called. He told the Captain that it was okay to recycle the circuit breakers and make the information-only entry. We were both okay with that and the First Officer and I proceeded uneventfully to our destination.As I was briefing the outbound Captain on the DEU [Display Electronic Unit] situation and writeup; a mechanic showed up and stated that he was there to change out the DEU and reinstall associated software. The First Officer and I said our goodbyes and headed home.The MEL states that information-only items concern system anomalies that can be corrected to normal system operations; to include recycling of circuit breakers. In this case; we had a non deferrable item that was 'corrected' by recycling circuit breakers and flown to our destination.The fact that Maintenance Control decided to change out the DEU and software upon our arrival where we had mechanics and parts makes me wonder if that in fact should have been done in the first airport. At a minimum; and in hindsight; Contract Maintenance should have recycled the circuit breakers and signed off on the logbook discrepancy; rather than having the Captain doing that. In this case; even though the Chief Pilot said it was okay to proceed; the prudent thing to do would have been to enter the discrepancy in the logbook and have Contract Maintenance take it from there.

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.