Originally Posted by
expert7700
I agree (and trust) that pilots are safety oriented, and also that we don't know what the item in question was. I want to give the pilot a thumbs up while everyone else complains. If they refuse the equipment, then barring any other facts, why not assume he or she acted in our best interest? Equipment refusals don't happen that often, and
I'd imagine they result in more paperwork, scrutiny, and stress for the captain who makes that call versus who signs on the X and takes off anyway.
Not quite, there is no additional stress for making the call not to fly under MEL conditions. It could very well have been the case that operating under MEL conditions would have placed an increased workload that the pilot was not comfortable performing.
I respectfully disageee with what seems to be your opinion that at an airplane is always "perfectly" safe under MEL. In many cases it's a risk calculated by authorities to be extremely improbable. Or perhaps, as you said, mitigated by following other procedures.
You're free to disagree with me all you like, however it is not just my opinion that an airplane is safe to fly while operating under MEL rules, I know it is safe. You're more than welcome to come to any of the DO's where we can discuss all matters of aviation things related to design, certification, operations, continued airworthiness, etc.
I have written MMEL documentation for ATA 23, ATA 46 and provided input for MMEL documents related to ATA 25 and ATA 31.
How's your MMEL documentation history been?
Like I said earlier, I think you do not fully grasp the concept of MMEL, the required conditions that must be met when operating under MEL operating and what's really involved when the MMEL and associated operating procedures are defined by the OEM.
That being said, I listed two examples of AC-owned flights that crashed due to departing with MELs on another topic yesterday.
I'm not sure which thread you're referring to, I'll do a search later. But since you mentioned crashed and MEL, these must be decades old crashes, which surely have resulted in improvements to the MEL operating procedures. That is one of the good things that comes out of airplane incidents/accidents, safety is improved by correcting various procedures.
Have fun
reading up on all the goodness that is MMEL on the TCCA website.
