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Inoperative Equipment — the § 91.213(d) flow
Something on the panel is dead. Most trainers have no Minimum Equipment List, so the question “can I legally fly?” runs through one rule: 14 CFR 91.213(d). You may defer an inoperative item only if it is not required — by the VFR-day type certification, by your equipment list or KOEL, by § 91.205 for the kind of flight, or by an airworthiness directive. Clear all four and you can placard it; trip any one and the airplane isn't airworthy for that flight.
The trap is that “required” depends on the operation. Pick an item and a kind of flight below: the same attitude indicator you can legally placard for a day-VFR hop grounds you for IFR, and position lights that are optional by day are a no-go at night. Or switch to Scenario mode and do it the way the checkride does: the evaluator gives you the facts, you make the call, and only then does the sim show its verdict.
Two things this page assumes, because the sim cannot check them: that your aircraft is one § 91.213(d)(1) lists — a rotorcraft, non-turbine airplane, glider, balloon, powered parachute or weight-shift aircraft without a master minimum equipment list, or a small one for which an MMEL exists — and that it has no approved Minimum Equipment List. An aircraft with an MEL operates under § 91.213(a) and its own MEL procedures, and this flow does not apply to it.
This list is a subset of § 91.205, chosen for the decision each item teaches. Transponder (§ 91.215) and ADS-B Out (§ 91.225) are left out because they are required by airspace, not by kind of flight.
Is it required? The § 91.213(d)(2) gate
14 CFR 91.213(d)(2)You can only defer an item that is not required by any of these. The first two you check against your aircraft; answer them below.
Attitude indicator (artificial horizon) inoperative, day VFR flight: may be deferred — removed or deactivated and placarded inoperative, recorded, with a no-hazard determination.
The attitude indicator (artificial horizon) isn't required for this day VFR flight, so § 91.213(d) lets you defer it:
- 1.Remove it, or deactivate it and placard the cockpit control “INOPERATIVE”. A sticker alone is not compliance — see who does what, below.14 CFR 91.213(d)(3)
- 2.Record it — removal per § 43.9; deactivation involving maintenance per part 43.14 CFR 91.213(d)(3)
- 3.A pilot or mechanic determines the item is not a hazard to the aircraft.14 CFR 91.213(d)(4)
- 4.Then, at the next required inspection, the owner or operator has it “repaired, replaced, removed, or inspected”. It is not fixed forever and it is not due at the next annual: the FAA's Chief Counsel read “inspected” to mean the deferral is re-evaluated and documented at each inspection, and that this “may be continued ‘indefinitely,’ so long the reevaluation is accomplished and documented at each required inspection.”14 CFR 91.405(c); FAA Chief Counsel to Peri, 2018
Who may deactivate it — two texts, read them both
“Deactivated and placarded ‘Inoperative.’ If deactivation of the inoperative instrument or equipment involves maintenance, it must be accomplished and recorded in accordance with part 43 of this chapter”
14 CFR 91.213(d)(3)(ii)“Deactivation of an inoperative system is not preventive maintenance as described in part 43 appendix A. Regardless of the method of deactivation, a person authorized to approve the aircraft for return to service under § 43.7 must make the maintenance record entry required by § 43.9.”
AC 91-67A ¶4.2.2 (10/16/2023)The regulation makes the record entry conditional; the advisory circular makes it unconditional and says pulling a breaker is not a pilot's preventive maintenance. An AC is guidance, not law — but it is what an inspector or examiner will apply. This sim does not rule on which reading governs; it shows you both so you are not surprised by either.
Placarding isn't a shrug: you, as PIC, are still the final authority on whether the airplane is in condition for safe flight. 14 CFR 91.7(b)
Source. 14 CFR § 91.213, Inoperative instruments and equipment (with §§ 91.205 and 91.209) (eCFR, issue date 2026-08-24), § 91.213(d)(1) — which aircraft may use the no-MEL path; § 91.213(d)(2)(i)–(iv) — the four-part gate, incl. (iii) "or any other rule of this part"; § 91.205(b)(11), (c)(3) — the anticollision continuation clauses; § 91.209(b) — lighted anticollision lights. Retrieved from ecfr.gov 2026-08-24 and frozen in this site’s repository, where a test checks every quoted phrase against that copy. The anticollision-light verdict is deliberately left open: the regulation's continuation clauses and its no-takeoff framing are both quoted in the sim, and a test holds the sim to the frozen text of all three sections.
Source. 14 CFR § 91.405, Maintenance required (eCFR, issue date 2026-09-04), § 91.405(c) — an item permitted to be inoperative by § 91.213(d)(2) is repaired, replaced, removed, or inspected at the next required inspection. Retrieved from ecfr.gov 2026-09-09 and frozen in this site’s repository, where a test checks every quoted phrase against that copy. Step 4 of the defer verdict — what happens at the next required inspection — is this paragraph.
Source. FAA Office of the Chief Counsel, legal interpretation to Richard A. Peri (Aircraft Electronics Association), June 2018 — the meaning of "inspected" in § 91.405(c) (Letter signed Lorelei Peter, Assistant Chief Counsel for Regulations, AGC-200), p. 3 — reevaluation at each required inspection may be continued "indefinitely" so long as it is accomplished and documented. Retrieved from faa.gov 2026-09-09 and frozen in this site’s repository, where a test checks every quoted phrase against that copy. The Chief Counsel's reading of “inspected” in § 91.405(c): the deferral is re-evaluated and documented at each inspection, and may continue on that basis.
Source. FAA Advisory Circular 91-67A, Minimum Equipment Requirements for General Aviation Operations Under FAR Part 91 (AC 91-67A, 10/16/2023 (active; cancels AC 91-67 of 1991)), ¶1.7.3 — the deferral path is not for obviously required items (wings, rudders, flaps, engines, landing gear); ¶4.2.2 — deactivation is not preventive maintenance; a § 43.9 record entry regardless of method; ¶4.3 — continued operation: repaired, replaced, removed, or inspected at the next required inspection. Retrieved from faa.gov 2026-09-09 and frozen in this site’s repository, where a test checks every quoted phrase against that copy. An advisory circular is guidance, not law. It is quoted beside the regulation in the who-may-deactivate panel because it is stricter than the rule's own wording, and it is what an inspector or examiner will apply; the sim rules on neither reading.
The § 91.213(d) flow, quoted in full — a printable sheet with every step in the regulation's own words, including what the rule does and does not settle about the VFR-day type-certification test.
Four things students get wrong here.
- “It isn't in TOMATO FLAMES, so I can go.” § 91.205 is one of four tests, not the test. Flaps are in no § 91.205 list and are still not deferrable; an airworthiness directive or your own KOEL can require an item the regulation never names. Try the flaps scenario.
- “The INOP sticker is the compliance.” The placard is one of three things § 91.213(d)(3)–(4) require: deactivate or remove, placard, record where maintenance was involved — and someone qualified determines it is no hazard. A sticker with no entry and no determination is a sticker.
- “Only a mechanic can touch it” — or “the pilot can do all of it.” Both are stated as fact on the ramp. The regulation is conditional and the FAA's advisory circular is stricter; the sim quotes both and rules on neither.
- “It rides forever” — or “it must be fixed at the next annual.” Neither. § 91.405(c) has it repaired, replaced, removed, or inspected at the next required inspection, and the Chief Counsel read that as a re-evaluation that may continue as long as it is done and documented each time.
And the one that is not a misconception: you can't placard your way out of a required item, and you as pilot in command remain the final authority on whether the airplane is fit to fly — the paperwork clearing it doesn't clear you.
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Next step
- The § 91.213(d) flow on paper (printable)
- Go / No-Go tool
- Special flight permits — a verified checkride question
- Annual inspection timing — a verified checkride question
- Find your weak areas — the free 24-question Readiness Test, scored by knowledge area.
- Create a free account for the full bank: 2,074 verified questions with the FAA source on every answer, a timed practice exam, and a missed-questions drill.
The Private Pilot Quick-Review Study Guide covers this in chapter 2 (airworthiness, documents and inspections). It is in CFI review and not on sale yet; the guide page has the list for launch notes.