Narrative:

Pushback from gate positioned abeam the gate but holding short of sierra taxiway; crew conducted after start checklist; during this procedure the APU was selected off but the APU continued to run with no indications that it was going into a shutdown mode; finally the APU went into shutdown mode and immediately thereafter there was a fume event in the aircraft; both in the cockpit and the cabin area which was occupied by a jumpseater; of very heavy strong fumes of unburned fuel. This lasted briefly but I immediately made comment to the first officer that I had seen this issue before with this aircraft recently; and I mentioned that I would not be planning to accept this aircraft for flight with this condition; I instructed the first officer to contact the ramp tower and tell them of our issue that we had odors/fumes in the cockpit after engine start. The ramp tower then instructed us to proceed to [a holding area]; where [company] maintenance would meet the aircraft; proceeded to that area and shutdown number 1 engine but did not attempt to start the APU. I completed the aml maintenance write-up at this time. The maintenance crew met the aircraft by boarding through the avionics bay exterior door; we had a brief discussion and I told the maintenance crew that I had seen this issue before with this aircraft recently; in fact we found my maintenance write up in the aircraft maintenance 60 day window aml log on internet and showed it to the maintenance crew. We were cleared by this maintenance crew to restart number 1 engine; after which we were instructed to proceed to [the gate]. We were met at gate by maintenance and another debriefing of the aircraft maintenance issue with fuel fumes/odors. I want to make this clear that I consider this a fume event with aircraft X; this is the second time I have personally witnessed this issue with this aircraft; the first of which was in mid-january.I also want to mention that my maintenance write up for that particular trip appears to have been removed from the online aml window when I went back to check the particulars of that maintenance write up. I decided to make this report as soon as possible as I have extreme concerns that there is a serious fuel issue with this aircraft that must be addressed and despite recent subsequent maintenance write ups by other flight crews of the same issue with fumes/odors in the aircraft after engine start. Maintenance continues to clear this aircraft for further use. Aircraft must be removed from service to conduct proper inspections for repairs.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A300 Captain reported fuel fumes in the aircraft after engine start.

Narrative: Pushback from gate positioned abeam the gate but holding short of Sierra taxiway; crew conducted After Start checklist; during this procedure the APU was selected OFF but the APU continued to run with no indications that it was going into a shutdown mode; finally the APU went into shutdown mode and immediately thereafter there was a FUME EVENT in the aircraft; both in the cockpit and the cabin area which was occupied by a jumpseater; of very heavy strong fumes of unburned fuel. This lasted briefly but I immediately made comment to the FO that I had seen this issue before with this aircraft recently; and I mentioned that I would not be planning to accept this aircraft for flight with this condition; I instructed the FO to contact the Ramp Tower and tell them of our issue that we had odors/fumes in the cockpit after engine start. The Ramp Tower then instructed us to proceed to [a holding area]; where [Company] maintenance would meet the aircraft; proceeded to that area and shutdown Number 1 engine but did not attempt to start the APU. I completed the AML maintenance write-up at this time. The maintenance crew met the aircraft by boarding through the Avionics bay exterior door; we had a brief discussion and I told the maintenance crew that I had seen this issue before with this aircraft recently; in fact we found my maintenance write up in the aircraft maintenance 60 day window AML log on internet and showed it to the maintenance crew. We were cleared by this maintenance crew to restart Number 1 engine; after which we were instructed to proceed to [the gate]. We were met at gate by maintenance and another debriefing of the aircraft maintenance issue with fuel fumes/odors. I want to make this clear that I consider this a FUME EVENT with Aircraft X; this is the second time I have personally witnessed this issue with this aircraft; the first of which was in mid-January.I also want to mention that my maintenance write up for that particular trip appears to have been removed from the online AML window when I went back to check the particulars of that maintenance write up. I decided to make this report ASAP as I have extreme concerns that there is a serious fuel issue with this aircraft that must be addressed and despite recent subsequent maintenance write ups by other flight crews of the same issue with fumes/odors in the aircraft after engine start. Maintenance continues to clear this aircraft for further use. Aircraft must be removed from service to conduct proper inspections for repairs.

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.