So what was that under the Pablo story about rules being rules and not to be broken.
The difference is that the alleged incident was not necessary for the operation of the aircraft. Making an informed command decision regarding an Acceptable Deferred Defect keeps the show on the road.
I appreciate that the thread starter refers to exceeding the terms of the MEL.
For instance: broken proximity switch on two crew aircraft cargo door - captain (who is hands on marine engineer) looks at door closing from inside hold - decides it is safe to proceed BUT calls maintenance control in UK for second opinion and authorisation - not in MEL but sorted.