After Landing, Parking, and Securing (ASEL, AMEL)

• Exit the runway without delay at the first available taxiway, or on a taxiway as instructed by ATC
• Pilots must not exit the landing runway onto another runway unless authorized by ATC
• At an airport with an operating control tower, pilots should not stop or reverse course on the runway without first obtaining ATC approval

AIM 4-3-21 opens by saying these procedures "must be followed" and is precise about which items are musts. These exit procedures — together with the taxi-clear and hold procedures in the next question — are "considered an integral part of the landing clearance" and satisfy "the requirement of 14 CFR section 91.129" (AIM 4-3-21). In a transport-category airplane the runway-incursion version of this task is mostly about the exit itself — a high-speed turnoff taken at the AFM/SOP speed, then a deliberate stop point, not a rolling negotiation about where you are.

An aircraft is clear of the runway when all parts of the aircraft are past the runway edge and there are no restrictions to its continued movement beyond the runway holding position markings. Absent ATC instructions, taxi beyond the holding position markings even if that requires the aircraft to protrude into or cross another taxiway or ramp area — a long fuselage that stops with the tail on the hold-short line has not cleared the runway.

Then the rule that catches crews at unfamiliar airports: once all parts of the aircraft have crossed the runway holding position markings, hold unless further instructions have been issued by ATC (AIM 4-3-21). The tower will issue instructions permitting entry to another taxiway, runway, or ramp area when required.

Change to ground control frequency when advised by the tower and obtain a taxi clearance — the tower resolves any potential conflicts with other ground traffic before sending you over (AIM 4-3-21). Then the trap written into the same paragraph: ground's taxi clearance to parking does not authorize the aircraft to "enter" or "cross" any runways. Every runway between you and the gate needs an explicit crossing clearance.

Pilots not familiar with the taxi route should request specific taxi instructions (AIM 4-3-21). At the ATP level the crew discipline behind that sentence is what gets graded: both pilots copy the taxi route, the chart is out, and a crossing clearance is verbalized and confirmed by both seats before the airplane crosses anything.

Yes — all the way to the gate. Critical phases of flight include all ground operations involving taxi, takeoff and landing, and all other flight operations conducted below 10,000 feet except cruise flight; taxi is defined as "movement of an airplane under its own power on the surface of an airport" (121.542(c)).

• Duties: during a critical phase, no crewmember may perform duties except those required for the safe operation of the aircraft — the rule's own examples of what does not qualify: company calls for ordering galley supplies or confirming passenger connections, PA announcements promoting the carrier or pointing out sights, and filling out payroll records (121.542(a))
• Distractions: no crewmember may engage in — or the PIC permit — any activity that could distract any crewmember: eating meals, nonessential conversation in the cockpit or with the cabin, reading unrelated publications (121.542(b))
• Devices: during all flight time, no crewmember may use — nor may any PIC permit — a personal wireless communications device or laptop computer while at a flight crewmember duty station, unless the purpose is directly related to operation of the aircraft or for emergency, safety-related, or employment-related communications under approved carrier procedures (121.542(d))

The taxi-in after a long leg, with the flow done and the gate in sight, is precisely where this rule earns its keep; texting the crew van fails that test, and the professional answer to the R1 probe is that the phone stays away until the parking checklist is complete.

The ACS wording sets the trigger: coordinate with crew and complete the appropriate checklist(s) after clearing the runway (VIII.A S3). Nothing gets reconfigured on the runway or during the turnoff — flaps, speedbrakes, and transponder can wait; the wrong-handle history behind that discipline is covered in the commercial guide's Task XI.A.

In a crew airplane the flow is divided by SOP: typically the pilot monitoring reconfigures the airplane on the captain's command once clear, silently and by flow, then the checklist is read to verify. Two graded behaviors ride on it — the flow does not start until the airplane is clear of the runway with the taxi clearance understood, and heads-down time is managed so one pilot is always outside. Sterile flight deck still applies (121.542(c)), so the flow happens without the debrief conversation starting.

The ACS asks you to park "at the gate or in an appropriate area, considering the safety of nearby persons and property" (VIII.A S4). The transport-category realities:

• You cannot see your wingtips or your exhaust. Gate entry is flown on the marshaller, the docking guidance system, or wing walkers — and it stops the moment guidance is lost or contradicts what you see.
• Hand signals are standardized — the AIM publishes them (AIM 4-3-26), the AFH reproduces them, and the AFH notes that other sets exist (AC 00-34, military); what matters is "a suitable, agreed-upon set of signals," and at night the Emergency Stop signal is used for all stop indications (AFH ch. 2, fig. 2-13).
• Jet blast when taxiing into parking areas may affect any loose ground equipment, and adding too much power to start moving "can pull damaging debris up off the ground or cause damage well behind the aircraft" (AFH ch. 16) — breakaway thrust near a crowded ramp is a briefed, minimum-power event.
• Lights are signals: the FAA recommends air carriers turn on rotating beacons anytime engines are in operation, and strobes should be off on the ground when they adversely affect ground personnel or other pilots (AIM 4-3-24). Keep the beacon on until shutdown, not before — while knowing the beacon program is voluntary, and the AIM cautions not to "rely solely on the rotating beacon as an indication that aircraft engines are in operation" (AIM 4-3-24).

Because the airplane gives no visual cue that it is dangerous. AFH ch. 16's ground-safety warning: "There is no propeller to indicate visually whether a jet engine is running." Even at idle, enough air is being sucked into the intake to pull a nearby person into the fan, and the exhaust "is hot and moving fast enough to blow a person down" (AFH ch. 16).

The postflight application: ground crew approach the airplane the moment it stops, and the engines are still turning — spooling down, or running while awaiting external power. The crew's mitigations are procedural: engines to the SOP state before signaling the ground crew in, beacon on until the engines are actually down (AIM 4-3-24), and nobody connects, chocks, or opens holds until the agreed signal is given.

Foreign object damage — ingestion of debris through the inlet, which "causes significant damage, particularly to the compressor and turbine sections… Sometimes FOD results in total destruction of an engine" (PHAK ch. 7). Some engine inlets form a vortex between the ground and the inlet during ground operations, which is why vortex dissipaters, screens, or deflectors are installed on some engines (PHAK ch. 7).

The ramp is where the debris lives: baggage tags, chocks, hardware, luggage-cart litter. Two postflight duties follow — taxi-in power stays at minimum near ground equipment because jet blast turns loose objects into projectiles for the aircraft and people behind you (AFH ch. 16), and the walkaround includes a deliberate look into the inlets and exhaust for damage and debris, since "preflight procedures include a visual inspection for any sign of FOD" (PHAK ch. 7) and your postflight is the next crew's preflight.

Write it down — tonight, in the airplane's log. "The pilot in command shall ensure that all mechanical irregularities occurring during flight time are entered in the maintenance log of the airplane at the end of that flight time" (121.563). Not on the next overnight, not by an ACARS message alone if the operator's manual requires a log entry — at the end of that flight time.

The rule is a loop, and the other half belongs to tomorrow's crew: "Before each flight the pilot in command shall ascertain the status of each irregularity entered in the log at the end of the preceding flight" (121.563). Your entry is what makes their review possible — which is why a useful write-up carries the conditions: what happened, when, in what phase, what the crew did, and what the airplane did in response.

Who: each person who takes action on a reported or observed failure or malfunction of an airframe, engine, propeller, or appliance that is critical to the safety of flight must record that action in the airplane's maintenance log (121.701(a)) — that is maintenance's entry, not yours.

Where: the certificate holder must have an approved procedure for keeping adequate copies of that record in the airplane, in a place readily accessible to each flight crewmember, and the procedure goes in the operator's manual (121.701(b)).

So the log you review at the start of a trip is a regulatory chain: crew entry (121.563), corrective-action or deferral entry (121.701), copies aboard where you can read them. The part 135 version is 135.65 — the operator provides a maintenance log carried on board, the PIC enters each irregularity that comes to the pilot's attention during flight time, determines the status of prior entries before each flight, and each person who takes corrective action or defers action records it (135.65(a)–(c)).

The ACS element is "disembarking passengers safely on the ramp and monitoring passenger movement while on the ramp" (VIII.A R5) — monitoring is continuous, not a one-time announcement. On a ramp or hardstand deplaning:

• Nothing opens until the airplane is secured to the SOP state — engines down, beacon off (AIM 4-3-24), seatbelt sign per SOP
• The path is defined before the first passenger moves — marked walkways, cones, or an escorting agent; the route keeps everyone clear of inlets, exhausts, and props, which stay dangerous on the airplanes parked next to you even after yours is quiet (AFH ch. 16)
• Crew and ground staff watch the flow — the hazards are the wanderer photographing the airplane, the passenger returning for a bag, and the adjacent stand starting engines mid-deplaning
• Coordination is explicit: who is on the ramp, who counts, who closes the door behind the last passenger

No. Under 91.213(a), a turbine-powered airplane does not qualify to take off with inoperable instruments or equipment installed unless, among other requirements, an approved Minimum Equipment List exists for that aircraft and the aircraft is operated under all applicable conditions and limitations contained in the MEL (AFH ch. 16, citing 91.213(a)(5)). The part 91.213(d) pilot-deferral path is a non-turbine provision — it is not available to the airplane you are typing in.

Under part 121 the rule is 121.628(a): no person may take off an airplane with inoperable instruments or equipment unless an approved MEL exists for that airplane, the Flight Standards office has issued operations specifications authorizing operations in accordance with it, and the airplane is operated under all MEL and ops-spec conditions and limitations (121.628(a)(1), (2), (5)).

The rule also writes two access rights into your preflight: the flight crew shall have direct access at all times prior to flight to all of the information contained in the approved MEL (121.628(a)(2)), and records identifying the inoperable instruments and equipment must be available to the pilot (121.628(a)(4)). And one piece of legal standing worth quoting in the oral: an approved MEL, as authorized by the ops specs, "constitutes an approved change to the type design without requiring recertification" (121.628(a)(2)) — the airplane is airworthy with the item deferred because the MEL amended what the type design requires, not because a rule was waived.

Three categories:

• Instruments and equipment required by the airworthiness requirements under which the airplane is type certificated and which are essential for safe operations under all operating conditions (121.628(b)(1))
• Instruments and equipment required by an airworthiness directive to be in operable condition, unless the AD provides otherwise (121.628(b)(2))
• Instruments and equipment required for specific operations by part 121 (121.628(b)(3))

The relief valve: notwithstanding (b)(1) and (b)(3), an airplane with inoperable instruments or equipment may be operated under a special flight permit under 21.197 and 21.199 (121.628(c)) — the ferry-to-maintenance path when the item is not deferrable.

From the AFH's MEL discussion (AFH ch. 16):

• Deferral may be subject to limitations or conditional requirements stated in the MEL — operational, mechanical, or both. Mechanical conditions may require precautionary preflight checks, partial repairs before departure, or isolating and securing parts of the affected system.
• Procedures performed to ensure safe operation are categorized as operations procedures or maintenance procedures — the MEL denotes which by an "O" or an "M". An O procedure is the crew's; an M procedure belongs to maintenance.
• If conditions can be met, an authorized person makes an entry in the aircraft MEL Deferral Record and issues a temporary placard, affixed onto or next to the instrument or control "to remind the flight crew of any limitations."

Your acceptance duties the next morning follow directly: read the deferral, perform or confirm the O procedures, verify the placard, and apply the operational limitations to the day's dispatch.

The MEL only applies while the aircraft sits on the ground awaiting departure or takeoff — it is "essentially a dispatching reference tool." Once the aircraft leaves the ground, any mechanical failures should be addressed using the appropriate checklists and approved AFM, not the MEL; a pilot may refer to the MEL for background, but actions in flight are based strictly on the AFM's Abnormal or Emergency sections (AFH ch. 16).

And where no dispatcher is required by the certificate, "flight crews still need to refer to the MEL before dispatching themselves" (AFH ch. 16). The clean oral answer: MEL before flight, AFM in flight, maintenance log after flight (121.563).

A CDL "is used in the same manner as an MEL but it differs in that it addresses missing external parts of the aircraft rather than failing internal systems" (AFH ch. 16). The AFH's examples:

• Service doors
• Power receptacle doors
• Slat track doors
• Landing gear doors
• APU ram air doors
• Flap fairings
• Nose-wheel spray deflectors
• Position light lens covers
• Slat segment seals
• Static dischargers

It matters on this task because the postflight walkaround is where missing external parts get found — a static discharger gone, a panel departed in flight. The finding goes in the maintenance log like any other discrepancy (121.563); whether the airplane goes out tomorrow morning, and with what performance or speed penalties, comes from the CDL.

S5 asks you to conduct a postflight inspection and document discrepancies and servicing requirements, if any; S6 asks you to secure the airplane. In an air-carrier operation much of the physical work belongs to ground staff and maintenance, so the graded skill is knowing what is yours:

• The walkaround — gear, tires, and brakes; leaks; inlets and exhausts for FOD, since ingestion damage to the compressor and turbine can be severe and inlet inspection is a published procedure item (PHAK ch. 7); and the airframe for anything missing or struck, which feeds the CDL and the log
• Servicing requirements documented, not assumed — fuel, oil, oxygen, and anything the flight consumed abnormally goes into the operator's system so the turn or the overnight crew inherits facts
• Securing per the AFM and SOP — parking brake or chocks per the operator's procedure, gust-lock or flight-control protection as the type requires, doors and covers. The specific configuration is type-specific: take it from the AFM and your operator's procedures, not from a generic list
• The log entry — securing is not complete until 121.563 is satisfied

The regulatory hook is short: certificate holders operating under part 121 must comply with the applicable security requirements in 49 CFR chapter XII (121.538) — the TSA's rules, implemented through your carrier's and the airport's security programs. Operationally that means:

• Access control is personal — your badge, your challenge responsibility; airport security programs govern who may be airside and how doors and gates are used, and crews follow the local program rather than a generic one
• The airplane is a controlled item — securing it (VIII.A S6) includes whatever the operator's security program requires for an aircraft left unattended: doors, access, and custody handoff to ground personnel
• Passengers on the ramp are inside a security boundary — part of why R5's "monitoring passenger movement" is continuous; a wanderer is a security event as well as a safety one

At an outstation or a diversion field, the professional answer is that you ask the station or the airport authority what the local program requires instead of improvising.

• Stopping with the tail on the hold-short line and reporting clear — clear means all parts beyond the runway holding position markings (AIM 4-3-21)
• Accepting "taxi to the gate" as authority to cross a runway — it never is (AIM 4-3-21)
• Reconfiguring during the turnoff — the flow waits until the airplane has cleared the runway (VIII.A S3)
• Starting the debrief on the taxi in — sterile flight deck applies to all ground operations involving taxi (121.542(c))
• Beacon off while the engines are still turning — ground crews may read it as safe to approach, even though the beacon program is voluntary and never the sole indication that engines are running (AIM 4-3-24)
• Breakaway or gate-entry thrust near ground equipment — jet blast damage well behind the aircraft (AFH ch. 16)
• The verbal squawk — telling the outbound captain at the crew room instead of entering it in the log at the end of that flight time (121.563)
• Treating the MEL as an in-flight document — it is a dispatch tool; airborne failures run on the AFM (AFH ch. 16)