Narrative:

Aircraft was scheduled to fly a routine cargo route that was destined for an airport where the temperature was below -40F. According to our company task cards for a landing where the temperature is -40F or below; we are required to do a hard landing inspection of the aircraft structure and landing gear before it may be dispatched again. I was asked to go on this flight by my shift lead as requested from our dispatch center. Upon landing; I performed the inspection and made an appropriate entry into our logbook. I was unaware that the aircraft needed an airworthiness release before it could depart. The flight departed and returned to base. This event occurred due to a lack of training by my employer; I was unaware of the process by which aircraft are dispatched.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Aircraft Maintenance Technician is informed after the fact that an aircraft that he inspected needed an airworthiness release before it could depart.

Narrative: Aircraft was scheduled to fly a routine cargo route that was destined for an airport where the temperature was below -40F. According to our company task cards for a landing where the temperature is -40F or below; we are required to do a hard landing inspection of the aircraft structure and landing gear before it may be dispatched again. I was asked to go on this flight by my shift lead as requested from our Dispatch Center. Upon landing; I performed the inspection and made an appropriate entry into our logbook. I was unaware that the aircraft needed an Airworthiness Release before it could depart. The flight departed and returned to base. This event occurred due to a lack of training by my employer; I was unaware of the process by which aircraft are dispatched.

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.