Originally Posted by
Flytolive
What do economic considerations or sticking it to management have to do with a crew making safety decisions? An MEL is the result of an airline's ongoing negotiation with the FAA about 'minimally' acceptable equipment. The FAA is the best regulator airline money can buy and no MEL can anticipate every contingency or replace judgement.
The number one job of a Captain is to say, 'no' when required because almost everyone else is almost always saying go.
So the story I got on the APU refusal was that the captain declined the plane., Another was reassigned and flew it - with the captain that refused the airplane deadheading home in the cabin.
