DH8-400 captain reported difficulty understanding the MEL procedure and the need for instruction.

Attributes
ACN	1712650
Time
Date	201912
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Dash 8-400
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural MEL Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Narrative:

Reference Q400 MEL 28-xx-xx:the table needs to be more explicit and the pilots need instructions as to how to utilize the table. It is extremely confusing.after a call to the [chief pilot] (and 20 minutes of discussion with him; my first officer; and a maintainer) we determined the fuel from the nacelle (refuel/defuel) panel for the inoperative/malfunctioning gauge should be written in 'a'; and the fuel from the operative gauge should be listed in 'B'. The table can be misinterpreted as written and can lead to operating a flight with less than required fuel. Small mistakes can lead to fuel starvation in flight. Write detailed instructions on exactly what needs to be written in each block.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: DH8-400 Captain reported difficulty understanding the MEL procedure and the need for instruction.

Narrative: Reference Q400 MEL 28-XX-XX:The table needs to be more explicit and the pilots need instructions as to how to utilize the table. It is extremely confusing.After a call to the [Chief Pilot] (and 20 minutes of discussion with him; my First Officer; and a maintainer) we determined the fuel from the nacelle (refuel/defuel) panel for the inoperative/malfunctioning gauge should be written in 'A'; and the fuel from the operative gauge should be listed in 'B'. The table can be misinterpreted as written and can lead to operating a flight with less than required fuel. Small mistakes can lead to fuel starvation in flight. Write detailed instructions on exactly what needs to be written in each block.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.