<< >> NASA ASRS Report 879141, March 2010

A MD80 captain refused an aircraft that had both autopilots MEL'ed after it failed an autoland on the previous flight.

Attributes
ACN	879141
Time
Date	201003
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	MD-80 Series (DC-9-80) Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Autoland
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Narrative:

Attempted an autoland in visual conditions. Got a 'no flare' at about 50 ft. Disconnected the autopilot and landed the aircraft. Informed maintenance on taxi in and wrote it up. Maintenance couldn't decide what they wanted to do because of the failed flight control computer. About an hour after scheduled departure the mechanic told me that he was going to MEL both autopilots. Then he said he also had to download the flight data recorder and then run an return to service (rts) check. He said that would take a long time and that's if it passed the rts. Due to delay and possible reissue of this aircraft with both autopilots inop; I refused aircraft; notified dispatch; was reassigned another aircraft almost immediately and continued sequence.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A MD80 Captain refused an aircraft that had both autopilots MEL'ed after it failed an autoland on the previous flight.

Narrative: Attempted an autoland in visual conditions. Got a 'no flare' at about 50 FT. Disconnected the autopilot and landed the aircraft. Informed maintenance on taxi in and wrote it up. Maintenance couldn't decide what they wanted to do because of the failed Flight Control Computer. About an hour after scheduled departure the Mechanic told me that he was going to MEL both autopilots. Then he said he also had to download the Flight Data Recorder and then run an Return To Service (RTS) check. He said that would take a long time and that's if it passed the RTS. Due to delay and possible reissue of this aircraft with BOTH autopilots inop; I refused aircraft; notified Dispatch; was reassigned another aircraft almost immediately and continued sequence.

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.