An EMB145 EICAS alerted flap fail during climb after the aircraft had flown multiple flights with a ...

Narrative:

During the climb out a flap fail master caution message illuminated on the EICAS. Our flaps were already at zero degrees. At that point; I was pilot flying and the captain completed the proper QRH procedure. We declared an emergency and continued the flight to our filed destination. I became the pilot not flying as briefed when we were below 18;000 ft. We coordinated with ATC to use runway 28; as it is the longest runway. We flew the approach and landed without incident. We had an MEL for flap low speed that we were complying with for the previous five legs we flew. Also; it was noted by the captain at the beginning of our first leg today that flap low speed had been MEL'ed multiple times on this particular aircraft. The captain even made his point to maintenance personnel in person at our destination when this issue was getting MEL'ed today. Maintenance decided to MEL the flap low speed yet again. I believe the underlying threat and eventual cause of flap fail was the fact that the core problem was never fixed. By just continuing to MEL a potentially dangerous problem a real problem occurred. I believe that MEL's that are persistent and keep recurring on the same aircraft are an absolute safety hazard.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An EMB145 EICAS alerted FLAP FAIL during climb after the aircraft had flown multiple flights with a FLAP LOW SPEED EICAS alert. An emergency was declared and the flight continued to its filed destination.

Narrative: During the climb out a FLAP FAIL Master Caution Message illuminated on the EICAS. Our flaps were already at zero degrees. At that point; I was pilot flying and the Captain completed the proper QRH procedure. We declared an emergency and continued the flight to our filed destination. I became the pilot not flying as briefed when we were below 18;000 FT. We coordinated with ATC to use Runway 28; as it is the longest runway. We flew the approach and landed without incident. We had an MEL for FLAP LOW SPEED that we were complying with for the previous five legs we flew. Also; it was noted by the Captain at the beginning of our first leg today that FLAP LOW SPEED had been MEL'ed multiple times on this particular aircraft. The Captain even made his point to Maintenance personnel in person at our destination when this issue was getting MEL'ed today. Maintenance decided to MEL the FLAP LOW SPEED yet again. I believe the underlying threat and eventual cause of FLAP FAIL was the fact that the core problem was never fixed. By just continuing to MEL a potentially dangerous problem a real problem occurred. I believe that MEL's that are persistent and keep recurring on the same aircraft are an absolute safety hazard.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1018211
Time
Date	201206
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	EMB ERJ 145 ER/LR
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Trailing Edge Flap
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural Maintenance Deviation - Procedural MEL

An EMB145 EICAS alerted flap fail during climb after the aircraft had flown multiple flights with a flap low speed EICAS alert. An emergency was declared and the flight continued to its filed destination.