Maintenance crew required to service emergency exit slide nitrogen bottle while passengers were on a...

Narrative:

Aircraft X required mid right/H (right hand) door accumulator service due to low pressure. Plane was fully boarded at the gate; due to safety; with passengers moving about presented a safety hazard while performing a maintenance task involving nitrogen service emergency door slide assembly. Myself and another amt (aircraft maintenance technician) was performing the maintenance; with appropriate references including monitor and challenge ref [procedure manual]. I asked line maintenance supervisor 3 times if they would deplane aircraft X of passengers until maintenance task was completed; but my request was refused. The flight crew made announcement for the area we were working in to stay clear but some passengers kept walking back & forth down the aisle near the area we were working in and bumped into the other tech who was deactivating a slide bottle. I called our local mx ctrl (maintenance control) desk to ask them again to please deboard aircraft X of passengers but there wasn't any help; management wouldn't respond. I can only assume that maintenance management did not want to further delay flight by making passenger get off the plane. Servicing an emergency door with pressurized nitrogen source and deactivating doors and bottles inside the cabin while passengers are on board presents a safety hazard for them as well as the amt's performing the maintenance and passengers should not be on board while this procedure is done.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Maintenance Crew required to service emergency exit slide nitrogen bottle while passengers were on aircraft.

Narrative: Aircraft X required mid R/H (right hand) door accumulator service due to low pressure. Plane was fully boarded at the gate; due to safety; with passengers moving about presented a safety hazard while performing a maintenance task involving nitrogen service emergency door slide assembly. Myself and another AMT (Aircraft Maintenance Technician) was performing the maintenance; with appropriate references including monitor and challenge ref [procedure manual]. I asked Line Maintenance supervisor 3 times if they would deplane Aircraft X of passengers until maintenance task was completed; but my request was refused. The flight crew made announcement for the area we were working in to stay clear but some passengers kept walking back & forth down the aisle near the area we were working in and bumped into the other tech who was deactivating a slide bottle. I called our local mx ctrl (Maintenance Control) desk to ask them again to please deboard Aircraft X of passengers but there wasn't any help; Management wouldn't respond. I can only assume that Maintenance Management did not want to further delay flight by making passenger get off the plane. Servicing an emergency door with pressurized nitrogen source and deactivating doors and bottles inside the cabin while passengers are on board presents a safety hazard for them as well as the AMT'S performing the maintenance and passengers should not be on board while this procedure is done.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1646923
Time
Date	201905
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A321
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Person 1
Function	Technician
Qualification	Maintenance Airframe Maintenance Powerplant
Person 2
Function	Technician
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Maintenance crew required to service emergency exit slide nitrogen bottle while passengers were on aircraft.