Narrative:

I was the captain on a flight to sju; in an aircraft that was extended overwater; but not ETOPS equipped. After pushback and engine start; I started taxiing and moved about 10 ft and got an EICAS message stating left gen off and left gen grive. Called my dispatcher and operations and was told to return to gate. Maintenance determined that the left engine had a bad integrated drive generator (idg) and that we could operate the flight running the APU and with MEL 24-00-01B in place. I and my dispatcher agreed and extra fuel was uploaded to account for running the APU the entire flight. As we approached sju; I looked in the MEL book to see what actions would be necessary after landing in sju. I read the following; note: an hmg must be installed and operative or operations from the continental us into oceanic airspace (beyond 100/162 NM from the nearest shoreline) are prohibited. We were not filed or flying a route that keep us within 162 NM from the nearest shoreline. Except to recall from my ground school systems knowledge; there is nothing in the cockpit publications to let us know if we have an hmg installed on that particular aircraft. The flight continued to sju. After landing in sju; I called my dispatcher to see if she was aware of the note in the MEL and she was not aware. The return flight was filed and flown so as to comply with the MEL. It would be nice to have a system to let the dispatcher and flight crew know when certain equipment is MEL'ed; that that removes that aircraft from extended overwater status.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B757 flight crew was dispatched on an overwater flight with an IDG inoperative and failed to note the MEL restriction prohibiting oceanic flight without an HMG.

Narrative: I was the Captain on a flight to SJU; in an aircraft that was extended overwater; but not ETOPS equipped. After pushback and engine start; I started taxiing and moved about 10 FT and got an EICAS message stating L GEN OFF and L GEN GRIVE. Called my Dispatcher and Operations and was told to return to gate. Maintenance determined that the left engine had a bad integrated drive generator (IDG) and that we could operate the flight running the APU and with MEL 24-00-01B in place. I and my Dispatcher agreed and extra fuel was uploaded to account for running the APU the entire flight. As we approached SJU; I looked in the MEL book to see what actions would be necessary after landing in SJU. I read the following; NOTE: An HMG must be installed and operative or operations from the continental US into oceanic airspace (beyond 100/162 NM from the nearest shoreline) are prohibited. We were not filed or flying a route that keep us within 162 NM from the nearest shoreline. Except to recall from my ground school systems knowledge; there is nothing in the cockpit publications to let us know if we have an HMG installed on that particular aircraft. The flight continued to SJU. After landing in SJU; I called my dispatcher to see if she was aware of the note in the MEL and she was not aware. The return flight was filed and flown so as to comply with the MEL. It would be nice to have a system to let the Dispatcher and flight crew know when certain equipment is MEL'ed; that that removes that aircraft from extended overwater status.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.