MEL (Minimum Equipment List) or CDL (Configuration Deviation List) refers to the situation where an aircraft has certain components on the airplane that are inoperative (e.g., MEL may be broken air-conditioning) or missing (e.g., CDL may be missing winglet). The aircraft may still be able to fly with these malfunctions, however, a penalty will need to be applied to the performance of the aircraft. The regular flight plan may not be possible and the flight plan may need to be modified. The MEL/CDL functionality in NFP automatically applies the MEL/CDL restrictions to the Flight Plan so that you do not need to apply them manually.
Note: Warnings can be enabled for any kind of performance limiting effect assigned to a tail through MEL.
The following MEL/CDL penalties are cumulative if multiple are applied:
- Etops Time Reduction
- Additional Fuel
- Fixed Tankerage Fuel
- Max Takeoff Weight
- Max Landing Weight
- Driftdown Weight
This means the penalties are added and applied together instead of using the most restrictive one.
Creating MEL/CDL Items
First you must add the details of the specific MEL/CDL codes. MEL/CDL items are added in FOMS Menu 428 (MEL/CDL Codes Program).
In Webfoms, it is located in the MEL/CDL Dictionary feature under the Aircraft menu on the NFP Database tab.
Refer to that screen for detailed information on each of the fields and instructions on how to add and edit MEL/CDL items.
Applying MEL/CDL Items to an Aircraft
Once MEL/CDL items are added, you must add that MEL/CDL to the specific aircraft using FOMS Menu 425 (Aircraft MEL/CDL Status Program).
In Webfoms, it is the MEL/CDL Assignment feature under the Aircraft menu on the NFP Database tab.
Refer to that screen for detailed information on each of the fields and instructions how to apply MEL/CDL items.