Narrative:

Shortly after passenger boarding; with the APU electric and bleed running; an odor became apparent in the cabin and cockpit. The odor occurred almost immediately after a moderate rain began on the tarmac. It was somewhat faint in the cockpit. I also did not have the vents fully opened or pointed toward me; so I hardly noticed it. Shortly after; a flight attendant (flight attendant) came to the cockpit asking to open the aft door because of a smell. It then occurred to me that this odor 'could' be a fume event and I asked if she was having any symptoms. She was reluctant to answer. Next the captain and I put on our masks for about a minute and when we removed them and opened the vents; the smell was very apparent. It was clearly the dirty sock smell that has been described. It was then that 3 of our fas came forward with symptoms such as burning eyes; light headed; and burning in the chest. They also informed us many of the passengers were concerned with the smell and covering their faces. Based on reports from passengers and fas the odor seemed stronger in the aft section of the plane. The captain then made the decision to turn off the APU; inform maintenance; and have everyone exit the plane. I kept my mask on for the majority of the time after noticing the smell; only occasionally taking it off to see if the odor persisted. While I could not sense any symptoms; the captain did complain of a headache. He also had his mask off much longer than I did. The next morning we were asked to run up the engines again to see if the odor was isolated to the APU. I was very wary and concerned for my health knowing I am being asked to intentionally test for known toxic fumes. But knowing that we are in [a foreign station]; with no authorized maintenance to perform these tasks; I reluctantly agreed. However; it was on this basis that I keep my mask on for the entire duration of the engine run up. During the idle run-up; the contract maintenance informed us the smell persisted. The captain had taken his mask off several times during the run-up and again; complained of a headache shortly after. Although I could not say how to prevent this occurrence; I can say that I now feel it is extremely dangerous to ask crew to go back and replicate these odors without addressing any safety measures on how to approach it. The captain on this flight was subjected to secondary exposure of these toxic fumes in order to facilitate company operations. While we have a procedure in effect for pilots who encounter these odors in flight; there needs to be some procedure for following up with these events. It is important to remember that anyone who operates that plane next; whether maintenance or pilots; will possibly be risking their health to a severe nature. Of course; the plane will need to be run-up at some point. So I recommend that the company implement a procedure to anyone in maintenance operating an airplane after a fume event that will limit their exposure to the minimum extent possible. I do not feel safety was a top priority in this event when the captain and I were asked to run-up the engines and test for fumes.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A321 First Officer reported experiencing a 'dirty socks' fume event on the ground at a foreign station involving multiple exposures to the fumes while troubleshooting.

Narrative: Shortly after passenger boarding; with the APU electric and bleed running; an odor became apparent in the cabin and cockpit. The odor occurred almost immediately after a moderate rain began on the tarmac. It was somewhat faint in the cockpit. I also did not have the vents fully opened or pointed toward me; so I hardly noticed it. Shortly after; a Flight Attendant (FA) came to the cockpit asking to open the aft door because of a smell. It then occurred to me that this odor 'could' be a fume event and I asked if she was having any symptoms. She was reluctant to answer. Next the Captain and I put on our masks for about a minute and when we removed them and opened the vents; the smell was very apparent. It was clearly the dirty sock smell that has been described. It was then that 3 of our FAs came forward with symptoms such as burning eyes; light headed; and burning in the chest. They also informed us many of the passengers were concerned with the smell and covering their faces. Based on reports from passengers and FAs the odor seemed stronger in the aft section of the plane. The Captain then made the decision to turn off the APU; inform Maintenance; and have everyone exit the plane. I kept my mask on for the majority of the time after noticing the smell; only occasionally taking it off to see if the odor persisted. While I could not sense any symptoms; the Captain did complain of a headache. He also had his mask off much longer than I did. The next morning we were asked to run up the engines again to see if the odor was isolated to the APU. I was very wary and concerned for my health knowing I am being asked to intentionally test for known toxic fumes. But knowing that we are in [a foreign station]; with no authorized maintenance to perform these tasks; I reluctantly agreed. However; it was on this basis that I keep my mask on for the entire duration of the engine run up. During the idle run-up; the contract maintenance informed us the smell persisted. The Captain had taken his mask off several times during the run-up and again; complained of a headache shortly after. Although I could not say how to prevent this occurrence; I can say that I now feel it is extremely dangerous to ask crew to go back and replicate these odors without addressing ANY safety measures on how to approach it. The Captain on this flight was subjected to secondary exposure of these toxic fumes in order to facilitate company operations. While we have a procedure in effect for pilots who encounter these odors in flight; there needs to be some procedure for following up with these events. It is important to remember that anyone who operates that plane next; whether maintenance or pilots; will possibly be risking their health to a severe nature. Of course; the plane WILL need to be run-up at some point. So I recommend that the company implement a procedure to anyone in maintenance operating an airplane after a fume event that will limit their exposure to the minimum extent possible. I do not feel safety was a top priority in this event when the Captain and I were asked to run-up the engines and test for fumes.

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.