Narrative:

Captain is a commuter and carries a laptop; so he flight planned at the hotel prior to coming to flight operations. Our original airplane was aircraft X which was a 'clean' airplane. A short time later; the captain noticed that aircraft X had been replaced with aircraft Y which had an inoperative APU. The captain turned down aircraft Y and we were promptly given aircraft X back. Airplane; aircraft X; arrived at XX02; but we had to wait about 10-15 minutes for the catering guy to finish up; so we were a little pressed for time. The agent even made a call on his radio to advise that catering was holding up the pilot and flight attendant checks. We finally got into the cockpit and started finishing up our preflight items. At 10 minutes prior to push the agent closed the door and removed the jet bridge. I took the opportunity to use the restroom at this time. After 2 minutes; I was ready to return to the cockpit to run checklists and get underway. I was surprised to see the jetway back on the aircraft; the door open; and a person sitting in my seat. I thought it was an FAA inspector; but it turns out it was a management pilot. He was very courteous and said that he had been called by the station manager to find out why the captain had turned down the APU. The captain explained his reasoning; and the flight manager was satisfied. He left the cockpit with about 4 minutes remaining for pushback. I have to question the management pilot's judgement in forcing the agent to bring the jetway back; open the cockpit door; and interfere with our safety checks with less than 10 minutes prior to pushback. This is a potentially critical phase of flight and many mistakes can be made due to distractions. The management pilot was a distraction. The APU issue could have been safely addressed at another time. Second; I have to question the station manager's intimidation tactics in sending a management pilot to personally question the captain on his refusal of the APU. This is obviously a witch hunt for captains that are turning down airplanes; and it is obviously a degradation of captain's authority. It seems to me that the station manager would be better served acting as the vice president of flight operations that he purports to be instead of a local manager; which he seems to be.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 Captain expresses concern over manager attempts to intimidate him in response to his refusal to accept an aircraft with an inoperative APU.

Narrative: Captain is a commuter and carries a laptop; so he flight planned at the hotel prior to coming to Flight Operations. Our original airplane was Aircraft X which was a 'clean' airplane. A short time later; the Captain noticed that Aircraft X had been replaced with Aircraft Y which had an inoperative APU. The Captain turned down Aircraft Y and we were promptly given Aircraft X back. Airplane; Aircraft X; arrived at XX02; but we had to wait about 10-15 minutes for the catering guy to finish up; so we were a little pressed for time. The Agent even made a call on his radio to advise that catering was holding up the pilot and Flight Attendant checks. We finally got into the cockpit and started finishing up our preflight items. At 10 minutes prior to push the Agent closed the door and removed the jet bridge. I took the opportunity to use the restroom at this time. After 2 minutes; I was ready to return to the cockpit to run checklists and get underway. I was surprised to see the jetway back on the aircraft; the door open; and a person sitting in my seat. I thought it was an FAA Inspector; but it turns out it was a Management Pilot. He was very courteous and said that he had been called by the Station Manager to find out why the Captain had turned down the APU. The Captain explained his reasoning; and the Flight Manager was satisfied. He left the cockpit with about 4 minutes remaining for pushback. I have to question the Management Pilot's judgement in forcing the Agent to bring the jetway back; open the cockpit door; and interfere with our safety checks with less than 10 minutes prior to pushback. This is a potentially critical phase of flight and many mistakes can be made due to distractions. The Management Pilot was a distraction. The APU issue could have been safely addressed at another time. Second; I have to question the Station Manager's intimidation tactics in sending a Management Pilot to personally question the Captain on his refusal of the APU. This is obviously a witch hunt for Captains that are turning down airplanes; and it is obviously a degradation of Captain's authority. It seems to me that the Station Manager would be better served acting as the Vice President of Flight Operations that he purports to be instead of a local manager; which he seems to be.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.