3.3 Inoperative Equipment and 91.213

14 CFR 91.7 is the heading on every inoperative-equipment problem. No person may operate a civil aircraft unless it is in an airworthy condition. The pilot in command is responsible for determining whether that aircraft is in condition for safe flight and shall discontinue the flight when unairworthy mechanical, electrical, or structural conditions occur. A rental desk that says “it’s fine, everyone flies it that way” does not transfer that duty. 91.213 is the regulation that tells you when an inoperative instrument or item of equipment still leaves the airplane airworthy enough to take off.

The 91.213 decision path

Work the regulation in order. Do not jump to a mnemonic and skip a step.

1. Is there an approved Minimum Equipment List for this aircraft and a letter of authorization from the responsible Flight Standards office in the airplane (91.213(a))? If yes, the MEL plus the letter are treated as a supplemental type certificate. Operate only as the MEL and letter allow, and make sure the aircraft records available to the pilot include an entry describing the inoperative instruments and equipment. Instruments required by type-certification airworthiness requirements and essential for safe operations, instruments an AD requires to be operable (unless the AD says otherwise), and instruments Part 91 requires for the specific operation may not be listed as deferrable on an MEL (91.213(b)).
2. If a person is authorized to use an approved MEL issued for that aircraft under part 91 subpart K, 121, 125, or 135, that person must use that MEL (91.213(c)). You do not get to pick the more convenient no-MEL path.
3. Most PAR trainers have no MEL. Then 91.213(d) applies to operations under part 91 in a rotorcraft, non-turbine-powered airplane, glider, lighter-than-air, powered parachute, or weight-shift-control aircraft (with the small-airplane / MMEL proviso in (d)(1)). You may take off with inoperative instruments or equipment only if all of the following are true:
   • The inoperative item is not part of the VFR-day type-certification instruments and equipment prescribed in the airworthiness regulations under which the aircraft was type certificated.
   • It is not indicated as required on the aircraft’s equipment list, or on the Kinds of Operations Equipment List (KOEL), for the kind of flight operation being conducted.
   • It is not required by 91.205 or any other rule of part 91 for this specific kind of operation.
   • It is not required to be operational by an airworthiness directive.
   • It is removed from the aircraft, the cockpit control placarded, and the maintenance recorded under 43.9 — or it is deactivated and placarded “Inoperative.” If deactivation is maintenance, part 43 applies.
   • A pilot certificated and appropriately rated under part 61, or a person certificated and appropriately rated to perform maintenance on the aircraft, determines that the inoperative instrument or equipment does not constitute a hazard to the aircraft.
4. If you cannot satisfy 91.213(a) or (d), you do not take off for the planned flight. Repair the item, or operate under a special flight permit issued under 21.197 and 21.199 (91.213(e)).

The KOEL in the AFM is easy to skip and frequently tested. An item that is optional for day VFR on 91.205 can still be required by the KOEL for night or IFR in that make and model. 91.213(d)(2)(ii) makes that KOEL entry a hard stop.

91.205 day VFR — teach the regulation, not only the mnemonic

TOMATO FLAMES is a study aid. The regulation is 91.205(b). For VFR flight during the day, a powered civil aircraft with a standard U.S. airworthiness certificate must have the following instruments and equipment in operable condition (or FAA-approved equivalents):

• Airspeed indicator
• Altimeter
• Magnetic direction indicator
• Tachometer for each engine
• Oil pressure gauge for each engine using a pressure system
• Temperature gauge for each liquid-cooled engine
• Oil temperature gauge for each air-cooled engine
• Manifold pressure gauge for each altitude engine
• Fuel gauge indicating the quantity of fuel in each tank
• Landing-gear position indicator if the aircraft has retractable landing gear
• For small civil airplanes certificated after March 11, 1996, in accordance with part 23, an approved aviation red or aviation white anticollision light system (with a limited continue-to-a-repair-point allowance if a light fails)
• If operated for hire over water and beyond power-off gliding distance from shore, approved flotation gear for each occupant and (except part 121) at least one pyrotechnic signaling device
• An approved safety belt with an approved metal-to-metal latching device, or other approved restraint system, for each occupant 2 years of age or older
• Shoulder harness / restraint rules by date of manufacture (front seats after July 18, 1978; all seats after December 12, 1986, for small civil airplanes)
• An emergency locator transmitter if required by 91.207

If an item is on that list for the airplane and operation you are about to fly, 91.213(d) will not let you defer it.

Night extras — 91.205(c), including the landing-light trap

For VFR at night, 91.205(c) requires everything in paragraph (b), plus:

• Approved position lights
• An approved aviation red or aviation white anticollision light system on all U.S.-registered civil aircraft (again with a continue-to-a-stop allowance if a light fails)
• If the aircraft is operated for hire, one electric landing light
• An adequate source of electrical energy for all installed electrical and radio equipment
• One spare set of fuses, or three spare fuses of each kind required, accessible to the pilot in flight

FLAPS (fuses, landing light, anticollision lights, position lights, source of electricity) is only a reminder. The landing-light line in the regulation is conditional: “If the aircraft is operated for hire, one electric landing light.” A private, not-for-hire night flight does not pick up a landing-light requirement from 91.205(c)(4). The KOEL or the VFR-day type-certification equipment list still can. IFR adds the 91.205(d) items (two-way radio and navigation equipment suitable for the route, gyroscopic rate-of-turn with listed exceptions, slip-skid, sensitive altimeter, clock, generator or alternator, attitude indicator, heading indicator) on top of the day list and, at night, the night list.

PAR scenario — inoperative landing light, day VFR versus night:

You accept a fixed-gear 172 for a personal flight. The landing light is burned out.

• Day VFR, personal, not for hire. A landing light is not on the 91.205(b) day list. If it is not required by the KOEL or equipment list for day VFR, not a VFR-day type-cert item, and not required by an AD, a certificated pilot or mechanic may determine that it is not a hazard, deactivate and placard it “Inoperative” (or remove it under 43.9), and go. Skipping the placard and the no-hazard finding is not compliance.
• Night VFR, personal, not for hire. 91.205(c)(4) still does not require the landing light because the flight is not for hire. Open the AFM KOEL. If the KOEL requires a landing light for night, 91.213(d) stops you. If the KOEL does not, you still need the rest of the 91.213(d) steps and a genuine no-hazard call — a dark, unlit runway at a strange field may make that call “no.”
• Night, operated for hire. 91.205(c)(4) now requires one electric landing light. 91.213(d) cannot defer a 91.205-required item. Repair it or do not take off for that operation.

The same logic applies to other “nice to have” items. A second COM, a cabin light, or a non-required GPS can often be deferred on a day-VFR trainer after 91.213(d). An inoperative oil-pressure gauge, fuel gauge, or magnetic compass cannot, because 91.205(b) requires them. An inoperative transponder is a 91.215 / airspace problem as well as a 91.213 problem: you may be legal under 91.213 to fly without it in airspace that does not require a transponder, and illegal the moment you enter Mode C veil or Class C without the 91.215 authorization or exception.

When the inoperative item is a safety-of-flight problem even though a mnemonic says it is optional — cracked windshield, dragging brake, fuel stain at a loose fitting — 91.7(b) still requires you to keep the airplane on the ground. 91.213 never authorizes a takeoff the PIC has determined is not safe.