An incomplete review of a deferred maintenance item caused a B767-300 flight crew to depart unaware ...

Attributes
ACN	884153
Time
Date	201004
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Dusk
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B767-300 and 300 ER
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Route In Use	Other Controlled
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	TCAS Equipment
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Pilot Flying First Officer
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural MEL

Narrative:

During logbook review in the blocks we noticed a new deferral; TCAS inop with left transponder selected; so we selected the right transponder. I normally always check the MEL when I have a deferral; but this time got busy and distracted and failed to do so. After takeoff we noticed that the TCAS was inop with the right transponder selected also. We leveled off at FL280; verified TCAS was not needed for rvsm airspace and continued to FL350. After reviewing the MEL we found that the TCAS circuit breaker had been pulled and collared rendering the TCAS system inop. In this case the deferral was misleading (TCAS inop with left transponder selected) and lead us to believe that it would still work with the right transponder. This shows the importance of always checking the MEL when you have a deferred item. Printing the MEL page for a deferred item with the departure papers might serve as a memory jogger and save some time in the process.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An incomplete review of a deferred maintenance item caused a B767-300 flight crew to depart unaware that their TCAS system had been disabled by Maintenance despite the previous crew's write up stating it worked fine when utilizing the right transponder.

Narrative: During logbook review in the blocks we noticed a new deferral; TCAS inop with left transponder selected; so we selected the right transponder. I normally always check the MEL when I have a deferral; but this time got busy and distracted and failed to do so. After takeoff we noticed that the TCAS was inop with the right transponder selected also. We leveled off at FL280; verified TCAS was not needed for RVSM airspace and continued to FL350. After reviewing the MEL we found that the TCAS circuit breaker had been pulled and collared rendering the TCAS system inop. In this case the deferral was misleading (TCAS inop with L transponder selected) and lead us to believe that it would still work with the right transponder. This shows the importance of always checking the MEL when you have a deferred item. Printing the MEL page for a deferred item with the departure papers might serve as a memory jogger and save some time in the process.

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.

An incomplete review of a deferred maintenance item caused a B767-300 flight crew to depart unaware that their TCAS system had been disabled by maintenance despite the previous crew's write up stating it worked fine when utilizing the right transponder.