AN MD11 CARGO FLC DEPARTS WITH THEIR ACFT WHEN THEY ARE CONFUSED BY THE CHKLIST REVIEW READOUT ON THE CENTRALIZED FAULT DISPLAY UNIT. THE REFERRED CHKLISTS DO NOT AGREE WITH THE MANDATES OF THEIR MEL REQUIREMENTS AT MEM; TN.

Narrative

ACFT TYPE IS A MCDONNELL DOUGLAS MD11. THIS ACFT IS OF THE ADVANCED COCKPIT DESIGN; WITH AUTOMATED SYS TO ELIMINATE AN FE. PART OF ITS DESIGN PHILOSOPHY IS THAT WHENEVER ONE OF ITS SYS CTLRS DETECTS A FAULT IN ANY OF ITS COMPONENTS; AN 'ALERT' IS DISPLAYED TO THE FLC. MY AIRLINE'S PHILOSOPHY IN TRAINING FOR THIS ACFT IS IT IS 'ALERT DRIVEN;' IE; WHENEVER AN ALERT IS DISPLAYED TO THE CREW; WE ARE TO REFER TO OUR ABNORMAL/EMER PROCS CHKLIST. THIS MANUAL CONTAINS A LIST OF ALL OF THE ALERTS; WITH POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES; THEN REFERS TO THE APPROPRIATE CHKLIST. DURING TAXI-OUT FOR DEP; WE RECEIVED 2 'LEVEL 1' ALERTS ON THE SYNOPTIC DISPLAY; FOR 'AUTOPLT SINGLE' AND 'SINGLE LAND.' WE CONSULTED THE EMER/ABNORMAL PROCS CHKLIST AND FOUND THAT THE 'AUTOPLT SINGLE' ALERT IS LISTED AS A 'MAINT ITEM; WITH CONSEQUENCES LISTED AS 'NONE.' PER OUR COMPANY'S OPS MANUAL; WE CONTACTED OUR DISPATCH OFFICE; AND TO NOTIFY THEM THAT THE ACFT IS DOWNGRADED FROM A 'CAT 3' TO A 'CAT 2' AIRPLANE. AFTER TKOF; WE AGAIN REVIEWED THE ABNORMALS CHKLIST; THEN THE MEL. THE MEL SHOWS THAT THE AUTOFLT SYS AS A 'FLAGGED' ITEM; REQUIRING A 'MAINT TURN BACK.' IE; A MAINT PROC IS REQUIRED PRIOR TO TKOF. I FEEL THAT THE CURRENT WORDING IN OUR ABNORMAL PROCS MANUAL LED US TO MAKE THIS MISTAKE; AS THIS ALERT IS LISTED AS A 'MAINT' ITEM; NOT AS A 'NO TKOF' ITEM. TO HELP PREVENT THIS MISTAKE FROM HAPPENING AGAIN; ANY ALERT LEADING TO AN MEL 'FLAGGED' ITEM SHOULD BE DEFINED AS A 'NO TKOF' ITEM; WITH VERBIAGE DIRECTING THE CREW TO 'REFER TO MEL' NEXT TO SUCH ITEM. IN FACT; THE EARLIER VERSIONS OF OUR ABNORMALS CHKLIST CONTAINED A SEPARATE LIST OF 'NO TKOF' ITEMS; WHICH REALLY MADE THESE EVENTS A 'NO BRAINER' IN THIS TYPE OF SIT.