Inoperative Equipment Question

[eetrojan]

Relative to FAR 91.213(d), and assuming daytime VFR, what are examples of instruments or equipment that can be discovered at the plane, deactivated, and placarded "INOP" right then and there without a logbook entry?

 

[flyingron]

The answer is simple. If it has to be removed or you can't deactivate it without doing "maintenance" you can not. For example, if you have a radio that you can just TURN OFF you don't need the "maintenance" record. If you have to remove it or do something that would be construed as maintenance to deactivate it, you have to make the log book entry for that.

Maintenance includes any of that stuff that a pilot can do in Part 43 App A(c)

 

[SkyDog58]

This part of the reg is what you need to understand.

91.213(d)(3)(ii) Deactivated and placarded “Inoperative.” If deactivation of the inoperative instrument or equipment involves maintenance, it must be accomplished and recorded in accordance with part 43 of this chapter;

So if the deactivation did not require maintenance, no entry is required. But I would suggest making an entry when you get back to where the records are kept.

 

[Ravioli]

TOMATOAFLAMES and/or Minimum Equipment Lists are pretty hard to get around.

But why not make a logbook entry? Is there some downside to documenting maintenance needed, and I assume, preformed?

 

[eetrojan]

@flyingron - Radio with an on/off switch. Perfect. By extrapolation, it sounds like anything I can deactivate with a switch or a breaker.

@SkyDog58 - Thanks. Understood!

@Ravioli - I definitely remember ATOMATOFLAMES. For what it's worth, I prefer to think of the required equipment list based on three functional groups rather than an acronym, i.e.

1. Flight Control (ASI, Alt, Magnetic Direction Indicator) - for how fast, how high, and what direction
2. Engine (Fuel Gauges, Tach, Oil Pressure and Temp, Engine Temp), and
3. Safety (Anti-collision lights, seat belts, ELT).

For more context, I was going through some old notes and I ran across my list of "notable" things that are NOT in the required equipment list, i.e. things I don't need to legally fly daytime VFR, e.g. attitude indicator, turn coordinator, etc.

So, with that list in mind, I was thinking that if the plane has an attitude indicator I discover is not operative, I could still go fly around the patch by covering it with a placard that says "INOP." That's easy since I've got a post-it note and pen. But then I realized I need to "deactivate" it too and that through me for a loop.

However, I now see that the plane I was thinking of has a breaker labeled "ATT GYRO," so I assume I could pull that breaker, label the instrument, and go fly.

So, a partial list of equipment I could placard, deactivate with a switch or breaker, and still legally go fly VFR is:

1. Radio (placard INOP and deactivate with on/off switch)
2. Attitude Indicator (placard INOP and deactivate with circuit breaker)

What if the inoperative instrument is part of something larger? Let's say, for example, there's a red-X on the turn coordinator portion of an electronic flight info system (EFIS) that appears to be working fine in other areas where it displays airspeed, attitude, altitude, and heading.

My gut says that since I have separate instruments for airspeed (round dial ASI), altitude (round dial altimeter), and heading (magnetic compass), I could placard the entire EFIS and deactivate the EFIS with the associated switch, but I couldn't separately cover the turn coordinator because there's no switch or circuit breaker that surgically deactivates the TC.

 

[Ravioli]

Since I have yet to be PIC for any flight that "must" happen I can safely say that if ANYTHING isn't working, I'm scrubbing the flight.

That's just me.

As a student I was flying an Archer and the flaps weren't retracting as I lowered the Johnson bar. The flaps did in fact lock in each position with manual assistance on the ground. Numerous well meaning people said "The airflow will move them, don't worry about it"

I canceled my flight and squawked the flaps.

 

[Fearless Tower]

Since I have yet to be PIC for any flight that "must" happen I can safely say that if ANYTHING isn't working, I'm scrubbing the flight.

That's just me.

So....if you flew yourself somewhere away from home for a weekend and on Sunday you are getting ready to fly home, but your preflight reveals the landing light is not working.....you are going to cancel a daytime flight home and wait until Monday to get ahold of a mechanic to look into it and possible order a new landing light?

 

[Fearless Tower]

But why not make a logbook entry? Is there some downside to documenting maintenance needed, and I assume, preformed?

Most folks don't carry logbooks in the airplane. I suppose you could make an impromptu sticker entry and put it in the physical logbook when you get home.

 

[Jeff Oslick]

you are getting ready to fly home, but your preflight reveals the landing light is not working.....you are going to cancel a daytime flight home

If it is planned as an entirely daytime flight, there is a reasonable chance I'm not preflighting the landing light. Sure, handy for visibility, but not required.

 

[flyingron]

The maintenance records do not need to be a "log book" though they often are.
We had a small book in the glove box for trivial maintenance records like this and the VOR checks.

 

[Sundancer]

If I don't need it, it broke in flight.

 

[denverpilot]

By extrapolation, it sounds like anything I can deactivate with a switch or a breaker.

Technically a pulled breaker isn't considered properly deactivated. If it's pullable, it needs a ring around it that will keep it from being closed again.

Some would also disagree that a power switch is a proper "deactivation".

I don't get too wrapped up around these things, but some do. I'm just passing them along.

You won't see most commercial ops just pulling a breaker and calling it good -- and they get inspected a lot more than someone putzing around in a Cessna. They're going to put a proper breaker ring around it and have a mech sign it into the logs.

That said, I've seen a tie wrap used as a completely effective breaker ring before.

 

[Zeldman]

If I don't need it, it broke in flight.

Careful, there will be a person by here soon that will tell you how bad you are to tell people to violate regulations and then tell you to never become a pilot....

I'm with ya', amazing how minor things break on the way home...

 

[denverpilot]

I'm with ya', amazing how minor things break on the way home...

The tail nav light burnt out on the way home, a few years ago... I swear!

Hard to see it in the rear view mirror, you know.

Especially with all the reflections from the other nav lights, the strobes, the LED taxi and landing lights, and the beacon bouncing off that Airbus that was on my six.

I bet ADS-B would have made me safer. LOL.