I was paxing in the back end of a Herc years ago en-route from NSFA to YSRI and I noticed, through the para door window, what looked like dumping fuel from the left wing. On closer inspection it appeared to be coming out of the top of the wing. I got on the headset and notified the flight deck crew and it turns out they'd done an overwing re-fuel in NSFA and must not have secured the one of the fuel caps properly. The catch was that of all the myriad fuel tanks and guages that a Herc has the only guage that was INOP was the one for the tank without the cap on it. The low pressure on top of the wing was hoovering the fuel out fairly well and the only way the crew would've found out would have been when the engine flamed out.
So I reckon this statement
So friigin what. You can MEL and dispatch most jets well the ones I have flown with out fuel caps. Total crap
is total crap.
Fuel caps are not mentioned in the MELs of the jets I fly/have flown so therefore they are definitely required.
Regards,
BH.