A321 captain reported a strong smell of fuel in the aft cabin shortly after engine start; resulting ...

Attributes
ACN	1660455
Time
Date	201907
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A321
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Fuel System
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Total 13500
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor

Narrative:

We had completed push back and the engine starts. After start flow had been completed. We receive a call from the aft flight attendants. They reported a strong smell of fuel and both crew experienced throat and eye irritation. Passengers were seen covering their faces. While I was talking to the crew; ground control calls us and reports a large amount of liquid on ground which appeared to be coming from our airplane. We immediately call operations and ask for a gate to return. We started the APU (bleed was left off) and shut down the engines. Operations calls the fire and rescue as a precaution and we got towed into the gate. Passengers were deplaned normally. This was a repeat write up for this aircraft. Maintenance needs to evaluate cause of repeated fume events on this aircraft.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A321 Captain reported a strong smell of fuel in the aft cabin shortly after engine start; resulting in the engines being shut down; and the aircraft being towed back to the gate.

Narrative: We had completed push back and the engine starts. After start flow had been completed. We receive a call from the aft flight attendants. They reported a strong smell of fuel and both crew experienced throat and eye irritation. Passengers were seen covering their faces. While I was talking to the crew; Ground Control calls us and reports a large amount of liquid on ground which appeared to be coming from our airplane. We immediately call Operations and ask for a gate to return. We started the APU (bleed was left off) and shut down the engines. Operations calls the fire and rescue as a precaution and we got towed into the gate. Passengers were deplaned normally. This was a repeat write up for this aircraft. Maintenance needs to evaluate cause of repeated fume events on this aircraft.

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.

A321 captain reported a strong smell of fuel in the aft cabin shortly after engine start; resulting in the engines being shut down; and the aircraft being towed back to the gate.