What's the biggest (most flight-critical, odd, etc.) item you've had MEL'd?

Flight director, flaps.

10 seperate cockpit lights out writeups occurring at DAWN, thus delaying my next leg by 30 minutes due to the amount of time it took to defer them and screwing ME out of lunch and numbers of passengers trying to connect later in the day as we were behind from this point on. They were written up to make a point to the mechanics to change the bulbs and such. What the author didn't realize (and I didn't have the heart to break it to him) is that the lights out weren't the mechanics' fault. None of the bulbs out were obvious (just random) and the mechanics check them when the plane is in for a phase not every day. Otherwise they don't know unless we write them up. Duh!

Cargo door light illuminates

Seat 2A is inop (based on my 30 seconds of trouble shooting, seat 2A actually works and seats 1A, 3C, 4C, 7C, and 8A are inop. besides, as far as i know these seats have about 3 inches of play in the seatback and only ever move an 1/2 an inch when you use the button anyway)

Copilot's airspeed indicator backlighting inop (i guess we don't need that)

I had a friend tell me that he wanted to write up an autopilot and when he consulted a mechanic on the wording, the mechanic threatened to just remove the autopilot and all of a sudden there was nothing wrong with the autopilot
 
Mavmb said:
...and inop SELCAL so they couldn't even call dispatch directly! The Mel for Selcal, meant alternative means of communication, so the pilots had to communicate to us through the rampers!
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Somebody was pulling your chain....
SELCAL isn't a radio. SELective CALling is used by ARINC with the HF radio on overwater OPS. It is used by the ARINC operators, not pilots. It is essentially a doorbell used by ATC to tell pilots to answer the HF radio. SELCAL is the code ATC uses to select a particular aircraft's "bell."
 
NJA_Capt said:
Somebody was pulling your chain....
SELCAL isn't a radio. SELective CALling is used by ARINC with the HF radio on overwater OPS. It is used by the ARINC operators, not pilots. It is essentially a doorbell used by ATC to tell pilots to answer the HF radio. SELCAL is the code ATC uses to select a particular aircraft's "bell."
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Actually, I don't think it is just HF. As far as I know, you can monitor an ARINC VHF freq and if SELCAL is installed on the airplane then you will get a nice little buzzer. With ACARS you don't need it, although from time to time we will get ACARS MELd and then you have to pull out the chart find the right ARINC freq and listen in on number 2 because we don't have SELCAL VHF capability.

"Aircraft calling SFO radio... stand by."
 
BobDDuck said:
Actually, I don't think it is just HF. As far as I know, you can monitor an ARINC VHF freq and if SELCAL is installed on the airplane then you will get a nice little buzzer. With ACARS you don't need it, although from time to time we will get ACARS MELd and then you have to pull out the chart find the right ARINC freq and listen in on number 2 because we don't have SELCAL VHF capability.

"Aircraft calling SFO radio... stand by."
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We have VHF SELCAL. We have a company radio frequency (several different actually) that we must monitor at all times. If Dispatch needs us, they can SELCAL us and we can answer. We're required to monitor it because ACARS is not approved to contact us. If the FAA is observing a dispatcher, he can tell him to contact a flight. The dispatcher has 3 minutes to get the flight on the radio. They can't use ACARS.
 
ERfly said:
We have VHF SELCAL. If Dispatch needs us, they can SELCAL us and we can answer. We're required to monitor it because ACARS is not approved to contact us. If the FAA is observing a dispatcher, he can tell him to contact a flight. The dispatcher has 3 minutes to get the flight on the radio.
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Interesting.
If we are on the ground ops just calls our BackBerry (text and/or phone).
In flight: AFIS (equated to ACARS) or the flight phone.

Question: If you are monitoring the frequency (as required), why would they need to call to tell you to call them? Seems redundant.
I have only seen selcal used so you do not have to monitor a frequency (until called).
 
NJA_Capt,

Our SELCAL is VHF and it allows us the ability to call dispatch or maintenance control using dial access, or for dispatch to call us. If dispatch calls us, there is a "SELCAL" aural announcment in the cockpit, and we simply switch to COMM2 and talk to them. If we want to call the dispatcher, we dial a nearby station and the desk number for our particular dispatcher, and we get them directly. Sometimes it is much easier than ACARS. I like it when we have something complicated to relay, or I want to hear what's really going on with a line of weather or something.

We also can use ARINC dial access if we need it. You know, the "San Francisco Radio" type stuff. But I hear that is expensive, so we'll use ACARS, SELCAL, or call a nearby ops frequency to have them call and relay a message to our desk.
 
If our ACARS is deferred (which is both a blessing and a curse), we've got ground based repeaters we can call dispatch up on (not sure if that's the same as SELCAL or not) as well as Air Inc.

Never had the fuel indicators deferred, but we just covered that in recurrent. If it's just one indicator, and you've still got the total fuel indicator, you can just subtract the "fuel used" on the fuel EFIS page to get the remainder (or a good ballpark) in the tank of the deferred indicator. If the total fuel indicator is deferred......well, we had a 10 minute arguement on that one with no copy of the MEL handy to solve the problem. The instructor said that we should top the tanks off and get an ammended release since we'd know there was 8800 lbs of fuel. The rest of us stuck with the MLIs. I plan on looking up that MEL on Monday when I'm back in the plane.


Nevermind, I'm bored enough to look it up and I have a copy of the MEL PDF'd on my laptop....

OMG, we actually DO top the tanks off if the total AND one tank indicator are inop. That's crazy. If it's just the total, we can MLI the center tank once per day, and just add the L and R tank quantities together.
 
I'm sure ever Saab pilot has had the rudder limiter. AP/FD and Yaw Damp are somewhat frequent, but the strangest was the Windshield
 
Re: What's the biggest (most flight-critical, odd, etc.) ite

Oh, I forgot my strangest MEL: Avionics Rack Cooling Fan in the Saab 340. We showed up to the airplane to find the avionics cover missing, which happened to be a cabin-sized wall that hid all the avionics behind the Captains seat. This wall faced the passengers, so all of our customers had a great view of wires and boxes for the short flight we had. Only had flight instruments, one VOR/DME, and one ADF available, on the Captain's side. Otherwise, everything else avionics-wise was turned off.
 
Re: What's the biggest (most flight-critical, odd, etc.) ite

I had the worst luck a few weeks ago. Not only did we not have BOTH the FMS and ACARS (the entire box was dead), but we were single pack and no APU (it was hot). The next leg we got a new plane and the FMS was still broke (the nav database had not been updated- consider it broke). We went to Charleston and we had a different airplane to bring back in the morning with the gear pinned down. That was such a PITA!
 
Re: What's the biggest (most flight-critical, odd, etc.) ite

higney85 said:
I had the worst luck a few weeks ago. Not only did we not have BOTH the FMS and ACARS (the entire box was dead), but we were single pack and no APU (it was hot). The next leg we got a new plane and the FMS was still broke (the nav database had not been updated- consider it broke). We went to Charleston and we had a different airplane to bring back in the morning with the gear pinned down. That was such a PITA!
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I'd honestly rather be ACARS-less and in green needles than have a busted APU in MEM right now. Where the heck were you going? TYS? I love it when I fly a plane into TYS, and the one I get the next morning has a busted APU. I'm like "Hello? What were you guys DOING last night?" CHS-MEM is way too long of a flight to have the gear pinned down. Did dispatch at least boosted your fuel burn for that? I've heard of guys totally missing that on the MEL lately.
 
Re: What's the biggest (most flight-critical, odd, etc.) ite

kellwolf said:
I'd honestly rather be ACARS-less and in green needles than have a busted APU in MEM right now. Where the heck were you going? TYS? I love it when I fly a plane into TYS, and the one I get the next morning has a busted APU. I'm like "Hello? What were you guys DOING last night?" CHS-MEM is way too long of a flight to have the gear pinned down. Did dispatch at least boosted your fuel burn for that? I've heard of guys totally missing that on the MEL lately.
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We had something in excess of 10K on the fuel load going from CHS-MEM with no alternate. The thing is a big time pig with the gear down and hot and heavy. We did about 1.0 a min to 12K' then 500fpm to FL180. To hold 250 was about 90% power. But APU outage is horrid... especially when the ramp is backed up and you are cooking in the sun waiting for a NW 9 to finish at their 40% speed...
 
Re: What's the biggest (most flight-critical, odd, etc.) ite

most annoying i've had was the auto-pressurization. we took that plane up to 36,000 ft so we got some good practice with it :)

ERfly said:
On the ERJ, our Fuel Indication MEL is a huge pain. They had to issue a special Flight Information Letter regarding that MEL. It's also an item that must be covered on IOE and UOE. It's a huge pain in the ass!! So far, I haven't had it. Something tells me it's coming one of these days.
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i've had it twice (both intermittent problems) but its not really a huge deal. I can see where the problems would arise but if you just stop to think about what you are doing its not really that big a deal. The biggest issue we had was reminding dispatch they can only fuel us to the max value the sticks can read or having to do a full top off. The other was finding a fueller who would overwing us.

NJA_Capt said:
Interesting.
If we are on the ground ops just calls our BackBerry (text and/or phone).
In flight: AFIS (equated to ACARS) or the flight phone.

Question: If you are monitoring the frequency (as required), why would they need to call to tell you to call them? Seems redundant.
I have only seen selcal used so you do not have to monitor a frequency (until called).
Click to expand...

We dont really "monitor" per se, we just have a valid company freq in comm 2 (as the active freq). When the SELCAL goes off we can then talk to them on 2. We can also use the radio to initiate calls to dispatch.
 
Re: What's the biggest (most flight-critical, odd, etc.) ite

casey said:
most annoying i've had was the auto-pressurization. we took that plane up to 36,000 ft so we got some good practice with it :)
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AMEN to that! Especially when the PNF has a short attention span.
 
Re: What's the biggest (most flight-critical, odd, etc.) ite

Once dispatched from Houston to London Gatwick on a 747 with auto -AND- standby pressurization inoperative. Had to manually control two outflow valves for almost 12 hours. With even the slightest movement of any of the four throttles, the cabin pressure would take off to places unknown . I had to train several flight attendants to watch things for me just so I could take a bathroom break once in a while. What a pain in the a$$.
 
Re: What's the biggest (most flight-critical, odd, etc.) ite

Worst thing I can think of on the Brasilia is no auto pressurization. Manual stinks! All kinds of work.
 
Re: What's the biggest (most flight-critical, odd, etc.) ite

casey said:
most annoying i've had was the auto-pressurization. we took that plane up to 36,000 ft so we got some good practice with it :)
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I learned an awesome tip during my upgrade Oral. Just think about it...what's a constant source of air that isn't dependant on TL position?

Just crank up the APU and put the packs on it below 25K. Then you have a constant, steady stream of air that you don't really have to mess with.
 
Re: What's the biggest (most flight-critical, odd, etc.) ite

C150J said:
The title says it all - let's hear it!
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Autobrakes - makes an RTO very interesting in a mad dog.

Autospoilers - they don't call the MD-88 a 'sled' without reason on snowy runways.
 
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