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A B-737 captain was distressed when; after a night gate arrival; both cargo doors were opened although the left engine was still running while awaiting ground power availability. A station policy directing that apus not be utilized on arrival aircraft was cited as a contributing factor; as the running engine was required to power aircraft systems including lighting for deplaning passengers.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1222151 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201412 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Parked |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | Cargo Door |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Captain |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 200 Flight Crew Total 9800 Flight Crew Type 5000 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown |
Narrative:
Upon arrival at the gate we complied with the station specific APU off procedures and refrained from starting the APU; we arrived at the gate with engine number 2 shut down and left #1 running. The crew was in the proper position to park us and the jetway driver was present; it took approximately 2.5 minutes to get the power turned on. The safety hazard was that the ramp crew opened both cargo doors with an engine running and the beacon on. They had a belt loader up to the forward door during this time as well. I was tempted to shut the engine down right there but it was night and I feared creating a more adverse situation in the cabin going down to emergency lights.during deplaning I asked the ramp lead if it was their procedure to start offloading bags with an engine running and he responded; 'no; no one is supposed to approach the plane until they get the safe to approach signal'. He was standing in front of the nose of the plane and could see the other rampers opening the forward door and he did nothing. However; another ramper did show him something on a cell phone during this period.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A B-737 Captain was distressed when; after a night gate arrival; both cargo doors were opened although the left engine was still running while awaiting ground power availability. A station policy directing that APUs not be utilized on arrival aircraft was cited as a contributing factor; as the running engine was required to power aircraft systems including lighting for deplaning passengers.
Narrative: Upon arrival at the gate we complied with the station specific APU off procedures and refrained from starting the APU; we arrived at the gate with engine number 2 shut down and left #1 running. The crew was in the proper position to park us and the Jetway driver was present; it took approximately 2.5 minutes to get the power turned on. The safety hazard was that the ramp crew opened both cargo doors with an engine running and the beacon on. They had a belt loader up to the forward door during this time as well. I was tempted to shut the engine down right there but it was night and I feared creating a more adverse situation in the cabin going down to Emergency lights.During deplaning I asked the ramp lead if it was their procedure to start offloading bags with an engine running and he responded; 'No; no one is supposed to approach the plane until they get the safe to approach signal'. He was standing in front of the nose of the plane and could see the other rampers opening the forward door and he did nothing. However; another ramper did show him something on a cell phone during this period.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.