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B757 first officer reported he mistakenly deployed the ram air turbine at the gate when he intended to operate the similar-appearing battery switch.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1403816 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201611 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | B757 Undifferentiated or Other Model |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Parked |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | First Officer Pilot Not Flying |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 115 Flight Crew Type 911 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown |
Narrative:
After the completion of flight duties following engine shutdown and post-flight checklist; the flight crew was requested to run the aircraft termination checklist as well. All checklist items were summarily accomplished with the exception of shutting down the APU and turning off the battery switch since external power and air were not yet available to the aircraft.after gathering all personal items from the cockpit and preparing to depart the aircraft; ground power and air were made available. At this point; I returned to the cockpit and transferred the aircraft to ground power; turned off packs and then switched the APU off to begin the shutdown sequence. The battery switch was not turned off yet; since it must remain on when the APU is still running to provide fire protection.after waiting two minutes for APU shutdown; I again returned to the cockpit to turn off the battery switch but did so from a standing position; rather than the normal seated position. I mistakenly reached for and activated the RAT (ram air turbine) switch and not the battery switch. Both are guarded by a clear plastic cover. This action resulted in an inadvertent ground deployment of the ram air turbine.fortunately; no one was under the RAT at the time of deployment; so there were no personnel injuries. The mechanic present noted that the RAT would simply need to be restored to the ready for deployment position.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: B757 First Officer reported he mistakenly deployed the Ram Air Turbine at the gate when he intended to operate the similar-appearing battery switch.
Narrative: After the completion of flight duties following engine shutdown and post-flight checklist; the flight crew was requested to run the aircraft termination checklist as well. All checklist items were summarily accomplished with the exception of shutting down the APU and turning off the battery switch since external power and air were not yet available to the aircraft.After gathering all personal items from the cockpit and preparing to depart the aircraft; ground power and air were made available. At this point; I returned to the cockpit and transferred the aircraft to ground power; turned off packs and then switched the APU off to begin the shutdown sequence. The battery switch was not turned off yet; since it must remain on when the APU is still running to provide fire protection.After waiting two minutes for APU shutdown; I again returned to the cockpit to turn off the battery switch but did so from a standing position; rather than the normal seated position. I mistakenly reached for and activated the RAT (Ram Air Turbine) switch and not the BATTERY switch. Both are guarded by a clear plastic cover. This action resulted in an inadvertent ground deployment of the Ram Air Turbine.Fortunately; no one was under the RAT at the time of deployment; so there were no personnel injuries. The mechanic present noted that the RAT would simply need to be restored to the ready for deployment position.
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.