Originally Posted by
Escape Path
The mentioned Airbus Safety First article also states that dispatch with an inoperative NWS (as you say, in free castor mode) was removed from the MMEL. This revision was published/issued in February 2022, if my memory serves me right. By the looks of it, this airline didn't have this revision in their manuals yet. I am unaware of the process of how a manual published by the manufacturer gets to an operator (i.e. how long does it take between it being issued and being accepted by the respective CAA), but I guess the question now would be "why wasn't that MEL in their approved manuals?"
I know from a good source that some days after the event, the airline published a bulletin stating that it was no longer possible to dispatch an aircraft with inoperative NWS. Go figure...
I am not with A-320 operator anymore, so I don`t have access to OSD of A-320, and I can`t check when mentioned MMEL change was actually published. But if it was implemented somewhere in February and incident happened 29th March, I can guesstimate 4-6 weeks time and not implemented yet in MELs. Maybe it souds a lot, but in some places it might not be so unusual - especially if CAA is involved in approval of MEL changes (no indirect approval procedure in place).