Narrative:

Our aircraft had an MEL requiring us to use the manual engine start procedure titled start valve manual operation. We were required by the MEL to maintain radio communications throughout the procedure. Maintenance was on the aircraft and I asked them if they were familiar with this procedure. They said they were. We got the airplane ready for departure and completed our before start checklist. We established radio communications with ground personnel who handed the headset over to the mechanic. He informed me he would use hand signals to communicate with another mechanic stationed by the engine to accomplish this procedure. I said ok and to standby for start. Before we completed our items for the procedure the mechanic opened the start valve and the engine began to spool up. I attempted several times to communicate to the mechanic to abort the start but he apparently walked away from the headset. We turned off the APU bleed to keep the engine from spooling. The mechanic then picked up the headset and said the engine failed to start. I told him that no further attempts would be made until he guaranteed me he would remain on the headset and follow my instructions. He complied and the second attempt; performed in the correct order; was successful. The flight continued uneventfully. Maintaining radio communications throughout the entire procedure and only performing tasks commanded by the captain as directed by the procedure would have prevented this from happening.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A320 Captain reported Maintenance failed to remain in contact during a routine manual engine start.

Narrative: Our aircraft had an MEL requiring us to use the manual engine start procedure titled Start Valve Manual Operation. We were required by the MEL to maintain radio communications throughout the procedure. Maintenance was on the aircraft and I asked them if they were familiar with this procedure. They said they were. We got the airplane ready for departure and completed our before start checklist. We established radio communications with ground personnel who handed the headset over to the mechanic. He informed me he would use hand signals to communicate with another mechanic stationed by the engine to accomplish this procedure. I said OK and to standby for start. Before we completed our items for the procedure the mechanic opened the start valve and the engine began to spool up. I attempted several times to communicate to the mechanic to abort the start but he apparently walked away from the headset. We turned off the APU bleed to keep the engine from spooling. The mechanic then picked up the headset and said the engine failed to start. I told him that no further attempts would be made until he guaranteed me he would remain on the headset and follow my instructions. He complied and the second attempt; performed in the correct order; was successful. The flight continued uneventfully. Maintaining radio communications throughout the entire procedure and only performing tasks commanded by the Captain as directed by the procedure would have prevented this from happening.

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.