Airbus : maintenance ((m)) tasks that can be performed by pilots

[C.M]

In the airbus document “ Getting to Grips with MMEL and MEL “ , there a section that says the following
“Maintenance personnel usually perform maintenance procedures, but flight crew, or other qualified and approved personnel may perform some elementary maintenance tasks “
I’ve spend about 20 minutes looking into the MEL and so far for every maintainance item (m) , follows an AMM task for which pilots don’t have access and do not deal with .
I am just wondering if there are elementary maintenance tasks that are not followed by an AMM signaling to the pilots that they can perform the maintenance task , or if there are maintanance tasks for which an initial action can be done by the pilot so he alone can continue with dispatch ( and the AMM is for the Engineer to follow after flight to deal completely with the issue ) , or a list of these elementary maintenance tasks are defined by the operator .

[Highway1]

As far as I am aware 'elementary maintenance tasks' means transit checks. Any task that needs a MM reference needs to be certified by an appropriately qualified Engineer.

[RUMBEAR]

The HOW TO section of our MEL describes maintenance items the PIC can complete to apply an MEL. They are limited to operation of switches or instruments normally used, Operation of circuit breakers and simple check of condition.

[AerocatS2A]

Not Airbus, but in our manual it is marked as F.C.M. (Flight Crew Maintenance) and as, above, is pretty much limited to pulling circuit breakers.

[Uplinker]

I think you can top up the engine oil?

[vapilot2004]

I know CB pulls and resets are common, and the process will get one past the digital gremlins that come calling from time to time. However, this is typically done under the direction of a tech as there is a proscribed order that keeps the mystery boxes sunny side up.

[C.M]

As far as I am aware 'elementary maintenance tasks' means transit checks. Any task that needs a MM reference needs to be certified by an appropriately qualified Engineer.

No , I actually meant maintenance actions which are part of an MEL condition for dispatch. I should have pasted the very beginning of that airbus statement for maintenance (m) tasks. Here it is below :
“• (m) Indicates that there is an associated maintenance procedure. Maintenance personnel usually perform maintenance procedures, but flight crew, or other qualified and approved personnel may perform some elementary maintenance tasks (Refer to §3.2.7). The flight crew has to ensure that the maintenance (m) procedure, associated with an MMEL/MEL item, is correctly performed.“

RUMBEAR mentioned that the HOW TO section descibes that these actions “They are limited to operation of switches or instruments normally used, Operation of circuit breakers and simple check of condition.” The MEL that I have in that section , mentions that those persons who are not maintenance personnel must be approved by the local DCA to perform these simplified tasks .
I guess the MEL may mention slightly different things depending on how far the airline has pursued certain approvals .

[Cak]

Some companies give you ‘special’ approval to do certain things. It can be through the guidance of an engineer via phone or they can train you to do certain things (e.g. opening of all gear doors using outside HYD panels after possible bird strike for inspection)

[Dan Winterland]

A few A320 operators are authorised to allow their flight deck crew to conduct CFDS procedures. This is a special authorisation from both Airbus and the certifying authority and crews have to be specially trained in the application. It allows a number (about 30) procedures to be carried out by crews at out-ports where there is no engineering support. The procedures mostly have to be conduced from the flight deck, but there at least one which has an external procedure. They are exclusively conduced through one of the MCDUs through the CFDS menu and all the procedures are laid out step by step in FCOM PRO. All the procedures which can be completed by this method are annotated (A) for 'alternate' in the MEL. If you are not one of these operators, then you will not see the CFDS procedures section in FCOM PRO, or the (A) annotation in the MEL.

Typically, in my airline, a pilot would expect to do about one CFDS procedure for real a year - apart from the annual line check where a procedure would have to be demonstrated by qualified crews . It's a great 'get you home' system, but is sometimes be used to dispatch with qualified pilots to an out-port without engineering support .

[C.M]

Thank you Dan . This is quite informative and it goes to show the depth of solutions and customizations of the industry.
Do you know who conducts the “training” to the pilots in this case ? A company engineer delivering a specific Airbus course for this matter?