An A320 adiru failed during pushback for takeoff. After reading the MEL and talking with dispatch th...

Narrative:

After pushing back during engine start; IR3 started flashing; while stopped we tried several realignments to no avail. The first officer talked with maintenance and I was texting dispatch. We agreed that we could proceed to our destination under the provisions of MEL 34-10-01 that I would only write up the discrepancy and destination maintenance would actually add the MEL to the airplane. Enroute I read the MEL in great detail and it appears as though the adiru might have to have been inspected for P/north or serial number to determine if it was a go or no/go item. It also says the flight deck crew can not MEL that IR3 inoperable. We flew uneventfully to our destination with the IR3 in the off position. Being pushed back (a few minutes late at that) and in the alley; unable to speak with maintenance control I had to speed read the MEL while blocking a taxi way; seems the dispatcher was ok (so I assume maintenance was also) with us going just turn the IR3 off and let destination maintenance handle adding the MEL. This whole procedure is so vague I would like to review the procedure and with this particular MEL to see if I did the right thing or not. Let us talk directly with maintenance control not going through the dispatcher via text!! Ridiculous in my opinion!

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An A320 ADIRU failed during pushback for takeoff. After reading the MEL and talking with Dispatch the crew enter the ADIRU MEL and departed. Later in flight; the Captain found that the MEL was not properly applied and that the flight crew was not allowed to MEL an ADIRU.

Narrative: After pushing back during engine start; IR3 started flashing; while stopped we tried several realignments to no avail. The First Officer talked with Maintenance and I was texting Dispatch. We agreed that we could proceed to our destination under the provisions of MEL 34-10-01 that I would only write up the discrepancy and destination maintenance would actually add the MEL to the airplane. Enroute I read the MEL in great detail and it appears as though the ADIRU might have to have been inspected for P/N or serial number to determine if it was a go or no/go item. It also says the flight deck crew can NOT MEL that IR3 inoperable. We flew uneventfully to our destination with the IR3 in the off position. Being pushed back (a few minutes late at that) and in the alley; unable to speak with Maintenance Control I had to speed read the MEL while blocking a taxi way; seems the Dispatcher was OK (so I assume Maintenance was also) with us going just turn the IR3 off and let destination maintenance handle adding the MEL. This whole procedure is so vague I would like to review the procedure and with this particular MEL to see if I did the right thing or not. Let us talk directly with Maintenance Control not going through the Dispatcher via TEXT!! Ridiculous in my opinion!

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.

Attributes
ACN	847455
Time
Date	200908
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A320
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	INS / IRS / IRU
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural MEL Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

An A320 adiru failed during pushback for takeoff. After reading the MEL and talking with dispatch the crew enter the adiru MEL and departed. Later in flight; the captain found that the MEL was not properly applied and that the flight crew was not allowed to MEL an adiru.