NEPALESECIVILAIRWORTHINESSREQUIREMENTS

SECTIONE

MANUALSANDRECORD
CHAPTER E. 8 ISSUE 1
SEPTEMBER 1996

MINIMUM EQUIPMENT LIST - MEL

1. APPLICABILITY

Except otherwise authorized by the Director General, operation of an aircraft with

inoperative equipment or system is prohibited unless an operator does so in compliance
with an approved MEL.

This Chapter specifies the process for compiling, approval and use of the acceptable MEL
for aircraft operated by scheduled and non-scheduled operators.

2. PURPOSE

2.1 The MEL is a joint operation and maintenance document compiled for or by an
operator to :

a) identify the minimum equipment and condition for an aircraft to keep the
Certificate of Airworthiness in force and to meet the operating rules for the
type operation;
b) define maintenance procedures necessary to maintain the required level of
safety and procedures necessary to secure any inoperative equipment.
c) define operational procedures necessary to deal with inoperative equipment.

Defects are encountered during operation of an aircraft, for which repair facilities
may not exist at transit stations. Transport aircraft of today have, however,
inherent safeguards introduced into them at the design stage in the form of
duplicated systems and components and reduanacy in the system etc. so that safe
operation of aircraft is possible even with the existence of defect in certain system.
Transport aircraft are, therefore, permitted to continue their flights from transit
stations to base stations where maintenance facilities are available. This practice
not only reduces unnecessary engineering costs but also avoids passenger
discomforts associated with delays to services. However, use of aircraft by
invoking MEL, for period longer than absolutely necessary will result in increased
crew workload and degrade the Airworthiness and therefore be avoided.
Rectification of inoperative systems, items of equipments or defective components
shall be carried out at the first station where time and spares permit.

3. COMPILING OF MEL

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 3.1 In general an operator will compile its MEL based on the Master Minimum
Equipment List (MMEL) duly approved by the competent authority of the country
of manufacture of the aircraft considering the type of operation he is engaged in.
His acceptable MEL may differ in the format from the MMEL but can not be less
restrictive than the MMEL. The operator should obtain the MMEL and refer to its
latest revision and submit his MEL to the Airworthiness Division, Civil Aviation
Authority of Nepal for approval.

3.2 MEL need not include items like wings, flight controls, complete engines, landing
gears etc., the Airworthiness and correct functioning of which is absolutely
necessary before any flight. It may also not include items like galley equipment,
entertainment systems, passenger convenience equipment, which do not affect the
Airworthiness of an aircraft.

3.3 All items which affect the Airworthiness of aircraft or safety of those carried on
board and are not included in MEL are automatically required to be operative.

4. USE OF MEL

4.1 An operator shall mention in its Maintenance Procedure Manual as to when or

where an inoperative item shall be required to be replaced.

4.2 An operator (Quality Manager or equipvalent person) shall be responsible for

exercising necessary control to ensure that no aircraft is dispatched with multiple
items inoperative which will increase the crew workload. In such cases crew
should be consulted.

4.3 Notwithstanding the MEL, an engineer need not relese the aircraft for flight or a
Pilot-in-Command need not accept the aircraft for flight if it is considered that it is
unsafe to do so.

4.4 The appropriately licensed or approved person responsible for releasing the
aircraft, after invoking the provisions of MEL shall inform the Pilot-in-Command
of the aircraft of the same, also make an entry of it in the Technical (or Flight) Log
and placard the inoperative system suitably. He should take maintenance action as
prescribed in Flight Operation Manual and crew should take operation action as
mentioned in the above Manual.

4.5 The MEL is normally applicable to all transit, terminal and main stations. No
aircraft should normally be operated from its main base with defects covered
under MEL. However, under exceptional circumstances, defect encountered an
hour or so before departure of first flight of the day at main base may be carried
forward if it is covered under the purview of the MEL.

4.6 As a normal practice the defects carried forward under MEL shall be rectified and
deficiencies made good at the first available opportunity where facilities exist and
in any case such repairs/replacements must be carried out when the aircraft returns
to the main base. The MEL is not intended to provide for continued operation of
the aircraft for an indefinite period with inoperative items but to permit the
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 operation of an aircraft with inoperative equipment within the framework of a
controlled and sound programme of repairs and parts replacement. The operator
shall, therefore, spell out his specific programme of rectification action in the
preamble of MEL in respect of each type of aircraft consistent with safety, which
will have the prior approval of the Director General.

5. APPROVAL OF MEL

5.1 MEL will be compiled by operators and submitted for approval to the
Airworthiness Division, Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.

The MEL will have a preamble attached to it. This preamble will indicate the
procedure of release of aircraft with items of equipment unserviceable as per
MEL, when and where the defects/items will be rectified/replaced. It will also
define the main bases and transit stations. It should also indicate the method of
informing the crew about the unserviceability of item/defect.

5.2 The MEL or amendments thereto received by the Airworthiness Division will be
scrutinized to ensure that safety of aircraft is not in any way jeopardized by the
unserviceability of any units or items included therein before its final approval.
Pending issue of final approval, provisional approval may be granted by the
Airworthiness Division.

5.3 In the interest of uniformity the Airworthiness Division may compare the MEL of
different operators when the same type of aircraft is operated by two different
operators so that the MEL or amendments thereto provisionally approved do not
materially differ.

6. AUDIT OF OPERATOR'S MELs

The Airworthiness Division, Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal will audit the Operators
conformance to MEL requirements on an ongoing basis and as part of any company audit.
Significant non-conformances may result in the MEL approval being withdrawn.

7. CAAN RESPONSIBILITY

7.1 The Flight Operations Division of Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal is responsible
for vetting the operator's MEL with respect to the operations functions and
procedures, ensuring that all of the operational procedures produced and
published by the operator are relevant to the required task.

7.2 The Airworthiness Division of Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal is responsible for
vetting the operator's MEL with respect to the maintenance function and
procedures, ensuring that all of the maintenance procedures published and adopted
by the operator are relevant to the required task.

8. MEL DISTRIBUTION

An approved or revised MEL is deemed to be in force upon receipt from the

Airworthness Division of Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal. However, the operator may

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 have 10 calendar days or as specified in the operators approved system, if necessary to
distribute and implement the new document, in all cases, copies are required for :

1. Each aircraft
2. Senior company official - maintenance
3. Senior company official - operations
4. Flight Operations Division, Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal
5. Airworthiness Division, Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal
6. Dispatching Official
7. Maintenance Co-ordinator (if applicable)

9. MEL UPDATES

It is the operators responsibility to ensure that their MEL is reviewed and updated as
required. The MEL should be reviewed by the operator at least annually to ensure that it
incorporates any changes to the operation, aircraft or to The Rules. A revision to the
MMEL or CAAN Supplement will require that the operator review and amend their
MEL, an necessary. The MEL development, processing and approval procedures should
be reviewed as part of the operators quality assurance program.

10. MEL DEVELOPMENT PROCEDURES

10.1 MEL Basic Format

The MEL must include the following : a List of Effective Pages, a Table of
Contents, the Minimum Equipment List Preamble, Notes and Definitions, a
section for each aircraft system addressed, the letter of approval and amendment
record page. Operators must specify the MMEL and CAAN Supplement revisions
and any other documents used in the development of their MEL.

10.2 MEL Page Format

a) MEL format is at the discretion of the operator, provided that it is clear and
unambiguous. However, it is recommended that the MEL Page Format follow
the MMEL Page Format.

b) The MEL should incorporate only item per page, when operations and/or
maintenance procedures are required. If no procedures are required, or the
required action is simple multiple items may appear on a single page. The
page numbering however, must be in accordance with the ATA 100 code
system.

10.3 List of Effective Pages

a) A List of Effective pages (LEP) will be used to ensure that each MEL is up-
todate, it must list the date of the last amendment for each page of the MEL.
The Airworthiness Division will stamp and initial the list of effective pages to
indicate the approval status of the contents of the MEL. The date and
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 revision status of each page of the MEL must correspond to that shown on
the list of effective pages.

1. Since the first page of the LEP includes the date and revision status of
each MEL page, only the first LEP page needs to be stamped and
initialed.

2. The Airworthiness Division stamped and initialed LEP may be retained

on file. Copies of the company MELs may be issued with unstamped
LEPs but the copies must detail the location within the company where
the approved LEP is retained.

10.4 Table of Contents

The table of contents page shall list the section for each aircraft system
utilizing the ATA 100 listing as found in the MMEL, Pages will be
numbered with the ATA system number followed by the item number for
that system.

10.5 MEL Preamble

The purpose of the Minimum Equipment List Preamble in to provide direction to

company personnel on the philosophy and use of the MEL. An operator may
choose to develop their own preamble but it must contain at least the information
contained in the MMEL version.

10.6 Operating and Maintenance Procedures

a) Dispatch with inoperative items is often acceptable only with the creation of
special operational or maintenance procedures.

b) Where the MMEL indicates that this is the case, the operator must establish,
publish and obtain approval for appropriate procedures. Procedures
recommended by the aircraft manufacturer in most cases can be adopted for
this purpose, but the ultimate responsibility for providing acceptable
procedures to be approved in the MEL rests with the operator. These
procedures will ensure that a satisfactory level of safety will be maintained.

c) The operator, when comparing the MEL against the MMEL must insure that
where the (O) or (M) symbols appear, an operating and maintenance
procedure has been developed that provides clear direction to the flight crew
and maintenance personnel of the action to be taken. This procedure must be
include in the MEL.

d) The only exception is when the procedure is contained in another document

that is available :

1. to the flight crew on the flight deck, such as an Aircraft Flight Manual,
Aircraft Operating Manual, or the Company Operations Manual, or
2. to the maintenance crew such as an Aircraft Maintenance Manual,
Maintenance Procedure Manual.

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 e) In these cases the MEL may refer to a section of the appropriate document.

10.7 Dispatch

Dispatch for the purpose of the MEL/MMEL refers to the moment the airplanes
starts its take off roll. In the case of a helicopter, it refers to the movement the
helicopter commences air or ground taxi. The MEL is approved on the basis that
equipment will be operative for take off unless the appropriate MEL procedures
have been carried out. The operators MEL shall include procedures to deal with
any failures which occur between the start of taxi or push back and take off break
release. Any failure which occurs after take off commences shall be dealt with as
an inflight failure, by reference to the appropriate section of the Aircraft Flight
Manual if necessary. After take off commences, no MEL action is required until
completion of the next landing.

10.7.1 Operational and Maintenance Items

a) Any item of equipment in the MEL which when inoperative would require an
operational or maintenance procedures to ensure the required level of safety
shall be so identified in the remarks or exceptions column of the MEL.
This will normally be O for an operational procedure or M for
Maintenance Procedure. (O) (M) means both Operational and Maintenance
Procedures are required.

b) (O) items

1. Aircraft with inoperative equipment requiring an Operational Procedures

(O) may be returned to service following completion of the required
MEL Procedure for deferral.

2. Operational Procedure are normally carried out by qualified flight crew

or may be accomplished by other qualified, approved personnel.

c) (M) items

1. Aircraft with inoperative equipment requiring a Maintenance Procedure

(M) may be returned to service following completion of the required
MEL Procedure for deferral.

2. Maintenance Procedure are normally accomplished by Maintenance

Personnel, but some elementary maintenance tasks may be carried out by
flight crew members or other appropriately qualified and approved
person.

11. MELs FOR LEASED AIRCRAFT

a) A leased aircraft must have a MMEL approved or accepted by CAAN.

b) The MEL for a particular leased aircraft must not be less restrictive than the CAAN
approved or accepted MEL and must be approved or accepted by CAAN. The MEL
must be available in English.
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 c) The country of registration of the leased aircraft may require that their aircraft be
operated in accordance with their approved MEL, in which case any less restrictive
changes to the MEL must be approved by the foreign authority. The Civil Aviation
Authority of Nepal may require more restrictive changes to the MEL.

12. A scheduled operator shall maintain a record, monthwise, of all the defects carried
forward in terms of MEL and analyze the same to determine if servicing facilities require
strengthening at transit in an effort to rectify the reported/observed defects at the earlier
possible. Results of such analysis shall be notified to Airworthiness Division every three
month.

13. It is imperative on the part of the operator that all defects noticed be rectified and
recourse to the use of MEL should only be taken to avoid passenger inconvenience
keeping in view their safety. They should also review their procedures regularly of
distributing the spares etc. at various bases to ensure that the items carried forward in the
MEL are attended to at the earliest. The Director General may put a specific time limit in
the operator's MEL for the rectification of the defects carried forward under the MEL
considering the safety of the aircraft and also increased crew load it may cause.

Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.

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