Pilot's seat a MEL item?
As this is my first post at PPruNe - and I am not a pilot but just a humble locomotive engineer - you might say that I signed up at the wrong board, but lurking here for more than half a decade, I think that my question might only be answered here.
Three days ago I signed one of our locomotives as non-serviceable because the driver's seat in cab one went completely out of order. The backrest was broken, the height adjustment was broken, and despite being 6´5, I could barely reach my controls and the dead man switch. It really was that bad.
Dispatch said that there would be the possibility of me standing upright all the way to my destination, but I politely declined.
I've read some discussions about MEL items on this board, only to understand that a MEL seems to be somehow subjected to company policy with a certain regard of the OEM manufacturer's MEL. Still, the pilot's seat was never mentioned in these discussions.
Now I can barely imagine to drive my train without having a seat to smother into - but I cannot imagine a plane being flown without the two guys who have to pull at a yoke and have to push some pedals and have to be in a position to grasp somne levers without a working seat. But I've never seen a MEL that stated that both the captain and the F/O needed a working seat.
So is it that self-evident that your seat works before you continue with your job that doesn't need your seat to be MELed?