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A320 flight crew reported refusing an aircraft for a partially inoperative PA system that maintenance attempted to defer via MEL. The crew did not believe the deferral is legal and maintenance takes five minutes to correct the problem once the aircraft is refused; plus the two hours it took to argue the issue.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 977807 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201111 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | A320 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Taxi |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | Cabin Address System |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Pilot Not Flying Captain |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 100 Flight Crew Total 12000 Flight Crew Type 4000 |
| Person 2 | |
| Function | First Officer Pilot Flying |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 161 Flight Crew Total 11800 Flight Crew Type 5000 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural MEL Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural Maintenance |
Narrative:
Inbound flight made a writeup that PA and flight attendant call chimes were inaudible in the forward galley area. Maintenance came on and deferred the chimes. MEL stated PA must operate normally. They contended that it did and it was only a speaker problem. I contended that the speaker was part of the system. They disagreed. Maintenance control was contacted and stated that they thought that the PA did work normally because it could be heard in the back. They told me to write the PA up and I did. The new MEL stated that the call chimes had to work normally. Up to this writing; nothing mechanically has been done. Per conversation with maintenance control and dispatch; maintenance control contends that per MEL that I can use the interphone to take this plane if I establish chime or PA contact with the aft flt attendants who will call the forward flt attendant; (I don't know how) who will then call me. I had to refuse the aircraft because none of this appears to comply with the intent of the MEL to me.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A320 Flight Crew reported refusing an aircraft for a partially inoperative PA system that maintenance attempted to defer via MEL. The crew did not believe the deferral is legal and maintenance takes five minutes to correct the problem once the aircraft is refused; plus the two hours it took to argue the issue.
Narrative: Inbound flight made a writeup that PA and flight attendant call chimes were inaudible in the forward galley area. Maintenance came on and deferred the chimes. MEL stated PA must operate normally. They contended that it did and it was only a speaker problem. I contended that the speaker was part of the system. They disagreed. Maintenance Control was contacted and stated that they thought that the PA did work normally because it could be heard in the back. They told me to write the PA up and I did. The new MEL stated that the call chimes had to work normally. Up to this writing; nothing mechanically has been done. Per conversation with Maintenance Control and Dispatch; Maintenance Control contends that per MEL that I can use the interphone to take this plane if I establish chime or PA contact with the aft flt attendants who will call the forward flt attendant; (I don't know how) who will then call me. I had to refuse the aircraft because none of this appears to comply with the intent of the MEL to me.
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.