Narrative:

Arrived ZZZZ. There was no gpu even though operations said there would be one. Started the APU; left it running and informed local station of status. They said that it would be taken care of. Arrived the next morning XA20 for an XB20 departure. Aircraft was unpowered with a ground heating unit blowing air into the aircraft. Volume of air was such that the aircraft pressurized light at door 1L was flashing; warning that aircraft was pressurized. Got local personnel to stop the air. Aircraft depressurized and door was opened safely. Upon boarding aircraft; I immediately started the APU; as it was very cold and to get some electrical power on the aircraft. APU start was successful and as the water on the aircraft was partially frozen; I put high heat on the aircraft to thaw it out. The first officer stayed on the aircraft to start programming while I went to operations to get the required paperwork (approximately XA40L). Returned to the aircraft and discovered that the caution light on the 'cids' panel was illuminated and started troubleshooting using the flight manual (XA50L). Attempt was unsuccessful and contacted maintenance control via cell phone. In coordination with maintenance control; tried numerous procedures to get the system work (non-deferrable item as it monitors numerous safety items). After 30 minutes of working with maintenance control; we both decided the only thing left to try; before getting a mechanic out; was to totally depower the aircraft (no APU/battery) and see if it worked. Total depower was successful. Finished remaining checklist and departed at XB28 (8 minutes late). Discovered inflight delay codes of crew and mo. This delay was clearly as a result of the station failing to keep the aircraft powered/warm and the subsequent maintenance failure of the cids system. Copilot was told by morning crew that night personnel did not know how to properly turn on the gpu. Our running of checklists was timely and the amount of time I personally worked with maintenance control was above and beyond what is normally required to resolve an issue. Flight duty manager was contacted and he said he would elevate it as he agreed that the codes were incorrect. It fell on the crew as the originally assigned codes needed lots of information that someone didn't want to do and it them automatically became a crew delay.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An A320 crew reported at an overnight station the aircraft water and systems froze the previous night. While preparing the aircraft for flight; a delay resulted that was falsely blamed on the crew because the station personnel did not keep the aircraft warm.

Narrative: Arrived ZZZZ. There was no GPU even though Operations said there would be one. Started the APU; left it running and informed local station of status. They said that it would be taken care of. Arrived the next morning XA20 for an XB20 departure. Aircraft was unpowered with a ground heating unit blowing air into the aircraft. Volume of air was such that the aircraft pressurized light at Door 1L was flashing; warning that aircraft was pressurized. Got local personnel to stop the air. Aircraft depressurized and door was opened safely. Upon boarding aircraft; I immediately started the APU; as it was very cold and to get some electrical power on the aircraft. APU start was successful and as the water on the aircraft was partially frozen; I put high heat on the aircraft to thaw it out. The First Officer stayed on the aircraft to start programming while I went to Operations to get the required paperwork (approximately XA40L). Returned to the aircraft and discovered that the caution light on the 'CIDS' panel was illuminated and started troubleshooting using the Flight Manual (XA50L). Attempt was unsuccessful and contacted Maintenance Control via cell phone. In coordination with Maintenance Control; tried numerous procedures to get the system work (non-deferrable item as it monitors numerous safety items). After 30 minutes of working with Maintenance Control; we both decided the only thing left to try; before getting a Mechanic out; was to totally depower the aircraft (no APU/battery) and see if it worked. Total depower was successful. Finished remaining checklist and departed at XB28 (8 minutes late). Discovered inflight delay codes of crew and MO. This delay was clearly as a result of the station failing to keep the aircraft powered/warm and the subsequent maintenance failure of the CIDS system. Copilot was told by morning crew that night personnel did not know how to properly turn on the GPU. Our running of checklists was timely and the amount of time I personally worked with Maintenance Control was above and beyond what is normally required to resolve an issue. Flight Duty Manager was contacted and he said he would elevate it as he agreed that the codes were incorrect. It fell on the crew as the originally assigned codes needed lots of information that someone didn't want to do and it them automatically became a crew delay.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of May 2009 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.