INOP RADAR ALTIMETER WAS ILLEGALLY DEFERRED ON AN INTL FLT.

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WHERE DO I BEGIN? ON JUL/THU/93 WE PICKED UP AN LGT FROM DFW TO RNO. THE RADIO ALTIMETER SYS WAS INOP WHICH RENDERED THE GPWS INOP AS WELL. THIS PART OF THE TRIP WENT OK. ON JUL/SAT/93 WE PICKED UP THE SAME LGT FROM DFW-MTY; MEXICO. SINCE WE HAD ALREADY FLOWN THIS PARTICULAR AIRPLANE THE 2 PREVIOUS DAYS; WE WERE FAMILIAR WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE MEL AS THEY PERTAINED TO THE RADIO ALTIMETERS; GPWS. HOWEVER; THERE WERE SEVERAL OTHER FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTED TO OUR OVERSIGHT. ALONG WITH THE 2 PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED ITEMS THERE WAS A FIN ON THE RUDDER WHICH WAS MISSING WHICH REQUIRED A WT PENALTY AND REF TO THE CDL; ARPT ANALYSIS; OPS MANUAL. THE CDL SAID WE COULD GO BUT TO REFER TO THE ARPT ANALYSIS FOR THE WT PENALTY. THE OPS MANUAL PERFORMANCE SECTION SAID WE HAD TO DO A MAX PWR TKOF. THE ACFT; WHEN IT ARRIVED AT DFW; WAS EXPERIENCING PRESSURIZATION PROBS. THIS PROB TOOK A LOT OF TIME TO DISCUSS WITH LCL MAINT. WE HAD SOME TIME TO DISCUSS DISAGREEMENTS ON THE ACTUAL PROB AND HE DECIDED WHAT HE THOUGHT THE PROB WAS AND WENT ABOUT FIXING THE LOGBOOK FOR YET ANOTHER PLACARD WHICH REQUIRED YET MORE MEL REFS. NEEDLESS TO SAY; WE WERE SOMEWHAT OVERWHELMED WITH THE MAGNITUDE OF PROBS. WE GOT IT ALL HAMMERED OUT; SO WE THOUGHT; AND WENT TO MTY. HAD SEVERAL PRESSURIZATION PROBS ALONG THE WAY BUT ENDED UP IN MTY. THIS IS WHEN WE DISCOVERED THE GPWS PLACARDED INOP SHOULD HAVE PREVENTED US FROM GOING TO MTY. THIS FLT IS CONSIDERED A DOMESTIC FLT AT OUR ACR AND YET THIS INFO WAS PUT UNDER AN INTL REQUIREMENT WHICH IS WHY IT WAS NEVER SEEN.