A320 Captain questioned the MEL procedures for dispatching with the Right Wing Anti-ice Valve stuck in the open position.
Synopsis
A320 Captain questioned the MEL procedures for dispatching with the Right Wing Anti-ice Valve stuck in the open position.
Narrative
Aircraft had come in from a maintenance base and remained overnight. Aircraft showed Right Wing Anti Ice valve stuck in the open position. The problem with this deferral is that it requires three ECAM procedures to operate the aircraft safely. Procedures give two options for takeoff. The first option is very poorly written and does not specify switch position for the bleed and pack valve. This whole deferral really needs to be evaluated for safety reasons. Why did this aircraft depart a maintenance station with this problem? Is it in the interest of safety to have the flight crew do a bleeds off takeoff and run an ECAM procedure at low altitude with mountainous terrain? The Captain put several calls in for a Fleet Captain. None were returned as the person was out of the office until Monday. It is clear our maintenance deferral procedures and our Flight Operations feel it is okay to allow crews to fly around with inoperative equipment with poorly written deferral procedures. We were required to receive runway data from the Dispatcher for specific runways. The data was sent; but nowhere on the data message showed the penalty or deferral reference. It wasn't a factor; but I'm not confident that the performance data from the Dispatcher was correct.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.