Page 14 - Volume 12 Number 1

Figure 4: In the MMEL, under section 33, inoperative cabin lights requires “Sufficient lighting is available for crew to perform required duties ...”
inoperative item is MEL’d. “O” is short for “Operator” and, in most cases, will be the pilot. The “O” symbol indicates a requirement for a specific operations procedure which must be accomplished in planning and/or operating with the listed item inoperative. An example would be cabin lights that may not be working. In the MMEL, under sec- tion 33, we see that inoperative cabin lights requires that “Sufficient lighting is available for crew to perform required duties...” (see figure 4). This would be left to the flight crew
to decide if the lighting is adequate and there would need to be a procedure on how that determination is made. Similarly, there is the “M” symbol that indicates a requirement for a specific maintenance procedure which must be accomplished prior to operation with the listed item inoperative. An example of this would be an inoperative fuel flow indicator. Under section 73, in the MMEL, we find “May be inoperative provided both Fuel Quantity Indicating Systems are inoperative” (see figure 5). This procedure would involve maintenance personnel having to make this evaluation. In addition, there are
Figure 5: An example from the MMEL with an “M” symbol that indicates a requirement for a specific maintenance procedure which must be accomplished prior to operation with the listed item inoperative.
sometimes inoperative items that involve both “O” and “M” procedures (see figure 6, opposite page).
The MMEL states that appropriate procedures for the “O” and “M” items are to be published as part of the operator’s MEL. Forewarning that this is the part of developing an MEL which requires the most legwork! While the MMEL tells us we may need to perform an “O” and/or “M” procedure, the MMEL doesn’t tell us how to do that. The how will be in our very own “O” and “M” procedures document that is part of the MEL system. These “O” and “M” procedures must be created by the operator. If you fly a relatively newer King Air, you may be in luck! At a recent King Air Gathering a Textron Aviation representative informed the attendees that “O” and “M” procedures exist that have already been created for newer King Airs (I’m sorry he wasn’t specific on years and/or serial numbers) that are yours for the taking. Just contact Textron with that request. For earlier King Airs, you’re on your own in having to create the “O” and “M” procedures. The operator procedures should be fairly straightforward for the pilot, but the maintenance items may require you to work closely with your maintenance technician/department in creating any of those procedures.
Lastly, the MEL needs to contain a method of documenting any discrepancies that are deferred. The method doesn’t need to be too fancy, but it must be a written entry describing the inoperative item.
12 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
JANUARY 2018