Continuing a flight with a discrepancy

[climbhappy]

i'll do you one better...had the Fed on board for a 3 hour tour, a three hour tour

We left MCO for SJU. VFR, had just flown up. A retired Delta Fed was riding to go pick up a plane. he had busines and really didn't want to hose us, plus he flew for 40 years.

So, The Capt gets a flag on his ATT Ind. We run the checklist I am flying and then he says," you check me on the checklist and I have the plane. meanwhile the Delta Fed is watching this. we're climbing out, still VFR and will be so till altitude.. I back him up and we keep going and now he gives the plane...

(later the fed would say, "you screwed up , He had the good side")

we call maint and we look at the MEL. the revision to this item had been deleted. We had told our maint that the Fed was on board and he says, " you 're on your own."

We talked and elected to continue since at altitude we could see and avoid plus the Fed had a reason to go there. he was bringing back a 757 for Delta.

At the end after a easy ride down, the capt was sweating bullets. he was so nervous at one point the ASI indicated 253 even though the speed selected was 250 on the panel.

The Fed said you fine but don't ever take the controls from the guy who has the good side plus he was peeved at our maint for saying "you're on your own"

It was the funniest leg I have had in 10 years in this business. Nervous Nellie captains don't handle these things well. It is nice to be back in the left seat...

I would always solider on if you have the fuel, weather, and it is non safety item.

 

[G100driver]

OK, I probably didn't make the scenario specific enough in the first place, which leaves too much gray area. So I'll be modify my scenario with some more specifics. Lets make the aircraft a Hawker, flying from the east coast to the west coast. The malfunction is a flight deck heat valve that won't open. This isn't addressed in the abnormal or emergency procedures. I believe the MEL allows the aircraft to be flown, but below FL250. At FL250, you don't have enough fuel to make the trip nonstop, which is what the CEO in the back is expecting. The flight deck heat valve also serves as an emergency pressurization source and is opened as a memory item on the emergency checklist. As long as you don't have an HP Air Overheat light, or some other pressurization emergency, no problem (other than the pilots cold feet!).

Sounds like a no brainer to me. The MEL tells you what to do. Just make you fuel stop a place where you can get TKS fluid.

 

[mike1mc]

Although the prudent thing to do is look at the MEL - its has no bearing on a flight in progress. It only provides relief for DISPATCH of an aircraft with inop equipment.

 

[Raskal]

Yeah...'cause airline pilots, military pilots, and palm pilots NEVER cut a corner, NEVER have deviations from SOPs, NEVER have screw ups. I like the fact that you differentiate "professional" pilots from "corporate" pilots. I'm certainly not advocating that there aren't more inherent risks associated with being a corporate pilot, there are. But drawing a line in the sand as if those of us that choose flying avocations other than the airlines are somehow a step below you "professional" guys makes you sound like, well, an airline pilot.

:laugh: Trust me, I spent 5 years in corporate and am now on the 121 side-there is no difference in how these things are handled other than airline guys game the system a little more. If it's the start of a multi-day trip than everything gets written up (we still get paid), if it's the last leg of a 4 day, short of a fire, nothing breaks until home.

I can say this though, the flying in 121 is much easier, it's the paperwork that's the killer. Pilot-wise, I'll take a corporate guy any day of the week. Not for "stick skills" but for adaptability and sense of customer service.