Required equipment and inoperative instruments
9 min readLesson 27 of 59
By the end of this lesson you'll be able to:
- List the required equipment for day and night VFR
- Use the 91.213(d) process for inoperative equipment
- Decide whether to fly with something broken
Day VFR: 14 CFR 91.205(b)
A common memory aid is A TOMATO FLAMES:
- Airspeed indicator
- Tachometer for each engine
- Oil pressure gauge
- Manifold pressure gauge for each altitude engine
- Altimeter
- Temperature gauge for each liquid-cooled engine
- Oil temperature gauge for each air-cooled engine
- Fuel gauge for each tank
- Landing gear position indicator (retractable gear)
- Anticollision lights (aircraft certificated after March 11, 1996)
- Magnetic direction indicator (compass)
- ELT, if required by 91.207
- Safety belts (and shoulder harnesses for front seats in aircraft manufactured after July 18, 1978)
Night VFR: add FLAPS
- Fuses: a spare set, if the airplane uses fuses, accessible to the pilot
- Landing light, if the aircraft is operated for hire
- Anticollision lights
- Position lights
- Source of electrical energy for all installed electrical and radio equipment
When something is broken: 91.213(d)
Most training airplanes don't have a Minimum Equipment List (MEL). Without one, you can fly with inoperative equipment only if it is not required by any of these:
- The VFR-day type certification requirements for the airplane.
- The airplane's equipment list or kinds of operations equipment list.
- 91.205 or any other rule for the kind of flight you're doing.
- An Airworthiness Directive.
If it isn't required, it must be removed (with a logbook entry) or deactivated and placarded "Inoperative". Then the pilot must still decide that the inoperative equipment doesn't make the flight unsafe.
Legal isn't always smart. A broken landing light might be legal for a day flight, but would you want to depart late in the afternoon without one? Legal is the minimum; safe is your call.
Key takeaways
- Day VFR: A TOMATO FLAMES. Night VFR: add FLAPS.
- No MEL? Use 91.213(d): not required by type cert, equipment list, 91.205 or an AD.
- If not required: remove or deactivate and placard, then decide if it's safe.
What the examiner may ask
Practice answering out loud before you open each answer.
Your airplane's attitude indicator is inoperative. Can you go on a day VFR flight?
Possibly. It isn't required by 91.205(b) for day VFR, so check the type certificate, the equipment list and ADs; if not required, placard it 'Inoperative' (or remove it) and decide it's safe.
What extra equipment is required for night VFR?
FLAPS: fuses (spare set if used), landing light if for hire, anticollision lights, position lights, and a source of electricity.
Does your airplane have an MEL?
Most trainers don't, so 91.213(d) applies.
Common mistakes
- Thinking 'not on the TOMATO FLAMES list' alone makes it legal (check the equipment list and ADs too).
- Flying with broken equipment without placarding it.
- Forgetting that night flight needs position lights.
Read it in the FAA sources
Lesson check
Get every question right to complete the lesson. Take your time; wrong answers explain why.
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