Originally Posted by
gordonfvckingramsay
The larger, underlying question most of us have latched onto is the overuse of MELs to keep an under maintained fleet operating.
Everything on the MEL has a time limit associated with it (3 days and 10 days being the most common) - in most cases it can be extended, but just once (so figure 6 days and 20 days), at which time the aircraft is effectively AOG until the defect is fixed.
The intent - as Icarus noted - is that, during that time period, the aircraft will overnight at a maintenance base where the defect can be corrected.