From "special cases" to the minimum equipment system: the history of the development of the concept of the master minimum equipment list in civil aviation of the USSR and Russia

The article presents the first comprehensive historical and regulatory study in historiography dedicated to the genesis and evolution of the Master Minimum Equipment List (MMEL) concept in domestic civil aviation. The objective of the study is to reconstruct the process of forming the national equivalent of the international Master Minimum Equipment List (MMEL) and Minimum Equipment List (MEL) systems – MMEL and MEL. Based on a critical analysis of sources, including operational documentation (Flight Crew Operational Manual (FCOM)), regulatory acts (Engineering Aviation Service Manual, Aircraft Technical Operation Manual, Aviation Equipment Technical Operation and Repair Manual, Airworthiness Standards of Civil Aircraft (ASCA) and orders of regulatory bodies (Main Administration of the Civil Air Fleet, Ministry of Civil Aviation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation), the following stages in the history of the MMEL concept development are considered: the stage of precedent regulation in the 1960s, the stage of integrating international standards and certification in the 1970s, the stage of harmonization of international standards and the creation of USSR State standard specification MEL in the 1980s and the stage of transformation and adaptation under the conditions of systemic transition in the 1990s. The research results demonstrate a consistent evolution from a non-standard "Special сases" procedure to the formation of a codified and scientifically based regulatory system of continued airworthiness integrating with international ICAO standards. Particular attention is paid to the key type-dependent Lists of this evolution: the first limited List of Permissible Failures and Malfunctions for the Il-14 (1963), the first limited Minimum Equipment List for the Il-86 (1980), the first extended List of Permissible Failures for the Tu-154M (1983) and the first complete Minimum Equipment List for the Il-96-300 (1992). As part of the research program, the next publication will be devoted to the analysis of the current stages of the MMEL development in the Russian Federation since the early 2000s.

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