Narrative:

Last leg of the day had an unscheduled swap; our 4th of the day. Met the crew getting off the plane so we could keep the plane cool. Promptly put the window shades up to keep the cockpit cool. Boarded up 33 passengers and left for [destination]. The flow coming out of the vents seemed adequate; just not as cool as it could have been. After 25 minutes of taxi; finally departed. Once in cruise; after called up and informed us it was too hot for service in the back; and that there was little to no airflow coming out of the gaspers. I checked everything I could; and everything seemed to be in working order; along with a duct temp around 15C. I completed the air flow questionnaire; also getting the flight attendant's input to see whether it was getting any better. Once on the ground; I asked again if it got any better and was informed that it had not. I then proceeded to call maintenance; which is where the problem truly began. When I told maintenance I had an aircraft that was too hot for service; I was told 'well that's a dash for you'; and also; 'you really want to write this up on a terminator?' I proceeded to tell them that I did want to write it up; otherwise when would it get looked at. Then they fired back with; 'you do realize that we're gonna send a mechanic down; it's gonna be cool out and it's going to be signed off as ok for service; is that really what you want to happen?' I don't appreciate the way the mechanic talked to me and tried to persuade me not to write something up; simply cause it was a terminator. When there is maintenance; which a hot aircraft is; you should not feel pressured about whether to write something up. I don't appreciate someone that is sitting in an air conditioned office talking down to me about whether an aircraft is too hot. If the plane is too hot; a pilot should not feel pressured to fly it or not write it up; putting passengers' lives in danger. The aircraft was too hot for service; so it needed to be written up; whether it was in the middle of the day or a terminator. The pressure from mx control to not write up this aircraft was unnecessary. If a pilot calls with maintenance; it should not be questioned.called maintenance; and against their pressure; I wrote the plane up as too hot. Fix the mentality in maintenance of pressuring pilots. If a write up needs to go in the logbook; do not try to pressure them out of it; just because it is a terminator. We are all supposed to be on the same team here. But when someone who has control of the maintenance on my aircraft acts so unprofessionally towards me; it makes one wonder how truly safe I and my passengers truly are.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Dash 8 Captain reported that Maintenance Control discouraged him from writing up an aircraft that had an air conditioning problem due to it being a terminating flight. Captain reported writing up the aircraft as too hot.

Narrative: Last leg of the day had an unscheduled swap; our 4th of the day. Met the crew getting off the plane so we could keep the plane cool. Promptly put the window shades up to keep the cockpit cool. Boarded up 33 passengers and left for [destination]. The flow coming out of the vents seemed adequate; just not as cool as it could have been. After 25 minutes of taxi; finally departed. Once in cruise; after called up and informed us it was too hot for service in the back; and that there was little to no airflow coming out of the gaspers. I checked everything I could; and everything seemed to be in working order; along with a duct temp around 15C. I completed the air flow questionnaire; also getting the flight attendant's input to see whether it was getting any better. Once on the ground; I asked again if it got any better and was informed that it had not. I then proceeded to call maintenance; which is where the problem truly began. When I told maintenance I had an aircraft that was too hot for service; I was told 'well that's a dash for you'; and also; 'you really want to write this up on a terminator?' I proceeded to tell them that I did want to write it up; otherwise when would it get looked at. Then they fired back with; 'you do realize that we're gonna send a mechanic down; it's gonna be cool out and it's going to be signed off as OK for service; is that really what you want to happen?' I don't appreciate the way the mechanic talked to me and tried to persuade me not to write something up; simply cause it was a terminator. When there is maintenance; which a hot aircraft is; you should not feel pressured about whether to write something up. I don't appreciate someone that is sitting in an air conditioned office talking down to me about whether an aircraft is too hot. If the plane is too hot; a pilot should not feel pressured to fly it or not write it up; putting passengers' lives in danger. The aircraft was too hot for service; so it needed to be written up; whether it was in the middle of the day or a terminator. The pressure from mx control to not write up this aircraft was unnecessary. If a pilot calls with maintenance; it should not be questioned.Called maintenance; and against their pressure; I wrote the plane up as too hot. Fix the mentality in maintenance of pressuring pilots. If a write up needs to go in the logbook; do not try to pressure them out of it; just because it is a terminator. We are all supposed to be on the same team here. But when someone who has control of the maintenance on my aircraft acts so unprofessionally towards me; it makes one wonder how truly safe I and my passengers truly are.

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.