Maintenance Airframe; Maintenance Powerplant
Communication Breakdown; Troubleshooting
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural MEL / CDL; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue
General Maintenance Action
Human Factors; Aircraft
B777 aircraft had a Non-Essential Equipment and Furnishings (NEF) [Chapter] 31-40A [deferral] issued 133 days ago for the Fuel Synoptic Display missing the green flow bars to the engines. The flight crew questioned the legality of using NEF 31-40A instead of MEL 28-19 for the fuel synoptic display. I agreed with the flight crew that MEL 28-19 should be used. However; doing a review of the NEF that was issued 133 days prior and finding three other B777 aircraft with the same problem and also placarded under NEF 31-40A; I suggested to the flight crew that both Boeing Engineering and [our] Air Carrier's Engineering were aware of this and that they were working on a software revision to correct the problem and that is why we were using the NEF instead of the MEL. I told the flight crew that if they insisted on using the MEL then the aircraft would be out of service because the MEL would be expired. The flight crew elected to fly with the NEF.The following morning my management was made aware of this problem and all of the affected aircraft were assigned No Fix No Fly [status] to have the problem corrected per Boeing 777-pilot report and Fault Isolation Manual (FIM) 28-22-00 which was redlined and issued by [our] Air Carrier Engineering. Incorrect deferral reference used.
A Maintenance Controller informs a flight crew that if they did not accept a Non-Essential Equipment and Furnishings (NEF) type deferral of their EICAS Fuel Synoptic Display missing the green flow bars to the engines on a B777; than their aircraft would be taken out of service; because a standard MEL 28-19 would have expired. The NEF had been issued 133 days prior.