AN ATR42 WAS DISPATCHED IN NON COMPLIANCE WITH SPOILERS AND #1 ENG PROP AUTO FEATHER DEFERRED AS INOP PER THE MEL.

Narrative

ON THE MORNING OF OCT/XA/99 MY CREW AND I BEGAN THE SECOND DAY OF A 2 DAY TRIP SEQUENCE. WE ARRIVED AT THE ACFT AND NOTICED WHEN REVIEWING THE PAPERWORK AND RELEASE THAT MAINT HAD MEL'ED THE SPOILERS. THEN DURING THE ENG TEST THE #1 ENG WOULD AUTO FEATHER VERY SLOWLY. I CALLED MAINT TO THE ACFT. THEY CHECKED THE ENG AND WE DID ANOTHER ENG TEST. THE PROB WOULD NOT GO AWAY. THE RAMP PERSONNEL WERE PUSHING US HARD TO LEAVE THE GATE FOR ANOTHER ARR THAT NEEDED OUR GATE. WE DECIDED; AFTER NUMEROUS TESTS; TO MEL THE AUTO PROP FEATHERING AS WELL. I LOOKED UP THE PERFORMANCE PENALTIES AS NOTED IN THE MEL AND WE THOUGHT WE COMPLIED WITH ALL OF THEM. THE FLT WAS UNEVENTFUL; ONLY 2 PAX AND A JUMPSEATER. SEVERAL DAYS LATER WHILE STUDYING FOR A PLT PROFICIENCY; I NOTICED A SECTION IN THE AIRLINE OP MANUAL THAT PROHIBITS THE COMBINATION OF THE SPOILERS AND AUTO PROP FEATHERING MEL'S. LOOKING BACK I CAN SEE SEVERAL REASONS THAT THIS WAS MISSED BY ME; MY FO; AN EQUALLY QUALIFIED CAPT IN THE SAME ACFT; DISPATCH AND MAINT CTL. THE FIRST IS THAT WE WERE BEING RUSHED AND THE SIT WAS VERY TENSE. SECOND; THE MEL DOESN'T REFER TO THE LIST OF EQUIP THAT CANNOT BE COMBINED. THIRD; OUR MANUALS ARE SOMEWHAT CONFUSING DURING TIME WHERE TIME IS NOT A LUXURY. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: THE RPTR STATED THE ACFT WAS AN ATR42 AND THE SPOILERS AND THE #1 ENG AUTO FEATHERING SYS WERE DEFERRED PER THE MEL. THE RPTR SAID THE MEL WAS CHECKED IN EACH SYS CHAPTER AND NO INDICATION WAS MADE OF HAVING THE SPOILERS AND THE AUTO FEATHER SYS INOP AT THE SAME TIME. THE RPTR SAID THE DISCOVERY THAT THIS COMBINATION OF INOP SYS WAS ILLEGAL WAS FOUND IN THE OPS PERFORMANCE BOOK. THE RPTR STATED TO THIS DATE NO CORRECTION HAS BEEN MADE TO THE MEL MANUAL.