B737-800 first officer reported a fume event during boarding resulting in flight cancellation and en...

Attributes
ACN	1701016
Time
Date	201911
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-800
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	APU Pneumatic System & Ducting
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Total 1100
Events
Anomaly	Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Illness Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor

Narrative:

During preflight; the APU was started and the packs were turned on. Shortly after APU air was initiated; a foul smell began to emanate from the ecs. The smell was a strong body-odor/burnt onion odor. After some time; my eyes began to burn and I developed a slight headache. The odor did not get better; it only got worse. When it was determined we were experiencing a fume event; the ca immediately stopped boarding; de-planed; and maintenance took the aircraft out of service. All agencies were notified (ramp; ops; mx; flight leadership). The entire crew went to the ZZZ clinic to get checked out. I was rescheduled to operate a later flight to ZZZ1 after the event. However; after being seen by the clinic physician and in the interest of flight safety; I chose not to operate the re-scheduled leg.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737-800 First Officer reported a fume event during boarding resulting in flight cancellation and entire flight crew received medical evaluation due to physiological symptoms.

Narrative: During preflight; the APU was started and the packs were turned on. Shortly after APU air was initiated; a foul smell began to emanate from the ECS. The smell was a strong body-odor/burnt onion odor. After some time; my eyes began to burn and I developed a slight headache. The odor did not get better; it only got worse. When it was determined we were experiencing a fume event; the CA immediately stopped boarding; de-planed; and maintenance took the aircraft out of service. All agencies were notified (Ramp; Ops; Mx; Flight Leadership). The entire crew went to the ZZZ clinic to get checked out. I was rescheduled to operate a later flight to ZZZ1 after the event. However; after being seen by the clinic physician and in the interest of flight safety; I chose not to operate the re-scheduled leg.

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.

B737-800 first officer reported a fume event during boarding resulting in flight cancellation and entire flight crew received medical evaluation due to physiological symptoms.