What's the biggest (most flight-critical, odd, etc.) item you've had MEL'd?
- Thread starter C150J
- Start date
BobDDuck
Island Bus Driver
According to the FAA you can't
The biggest I've had MEL'd was the fire switch guard cover. Actually we didn't take the plane, although a management pilot did I think. Shortly their after they updated the MEL book to prevent that from being MELable.
Mavmb
Well-Known Member
Didn't happen to me, but I dispatched poor souls with MELs for autopilots, inop packs, unpressurized aircraft, no FMS, no heat in the cockpit in winter, 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! Ha, do they even answer the radio! Good luck there!
Soul Brotha'
Off to go do Black guy stuff
:nana2:What I would do for autothrottles!:nana2:
ComplexHiAv8r
Well-Known Member
My Co-pilot/FO on every flight! 
kellwolf
Piece of Trash
I had the gear MEL'd during IOE, so I got to fly CVG-DTW with the gear pinned down on a revenue flight. See the other thread for my long day with the MLG BAY OVHT deferred (gear down for 10 minutes after takeoff). A couple of days before that we had a single PACK a/c, so we were filed at 25,000 ft between MEM-GSP-MEM-CAE with t-storms all over the place. Fun.
ComplexHiAv8r
Well-Known Member
Single Pilot operationsanic:
From another thread
Maybe it isnt so bad single pilot operations!
ERfly
Well-Known Member
Did the Captain get a call from someone at the Kremlin on a cell phone? They love to do that.
You name it, I've had it on the SAAB. They DMI'd the Captain's Seat adjustment one day. My favorite was the Bleed Leak Indicator. It had been MEL'd 3 times. Once I read the write-up, let's just say it wasn't the indication.
zmiller4
Well-Known Member
I had the gear retraction deferred, which was a pain because we had to keep reminding dispatch that fuel burn would not be the same with the gear hanging (they apparently were unfamiliar with their "MEL Calculator").
A deferred fuel indicating system is one of the biggest pains in the a$$. On the ATR, it required finding some ladder high and stable enough to get up to the magnetic level indicators on the wings, then converting the readings to fuel quantities based on flight manual tables. On the CRJ, you have to check the MLI's and inclinometers first, call maintainance to get a quantity for each wing, figure out how many pounds you need to add per side, convert to gallons for the fuel truck, and then check the inclinometers and MLI's again when they're done to make sure you've got enough gas. Good luck with the 24min turn.
One of the trickiest I've seen was an MEL'd auto pressurization system system on the ATR. The manual control was extremely finicky, and took a lot of attention away from normal duties because you had to screw around with it so much.
A deferred fuel indicating system is one of the biggest pains in the a$$. On the ATR, it required finding some ladder high and stable enough to get up to the magnetic level indicators on the wings, then converting the readings to fuel quantities based on flight manual tables. On the CRJ, you have to check the MLI's and inclinometers first, call maintainance to get a quantity for each wing, figure out how many pounds you need to add per side, convert to gallons for the fuel truck, and then check the inclinometers and MLI's again when they're done to make sure you've got enough gas. Good luck with the 24min turn.
One of the trickiest I've seen was an MEL'd auto pressurization system system on the ATR. The manual control was extremely finicky, and took a lot of attention away from normal duties because you had to screw around with it so much.
At Ealge we'd fly with pacs deferred all the time. The most irritating (from my standpoint) thing to have deferred was the yaw dampener on the ATR 42. Made for a real 'swingin' ride in my seat in the back! If I remember right the yaw dampener could be deferred on the 42 but not on the 72.
ERfly
Well-Known Member
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.
The Rudder Limiter on the SAAB was a big pain, too. It limited us to 180 KIAS. It was a 10-day item, too. In Colgan's book, that would be when it would be fixed and not a moment sooner.
The Rudder Limiter on the SAAB was a big pain, too. It limited us to 180 KIAS. It was a 10-day item, too. In Colgan's book, that would be when it would be fixed and not a moment sooner.