Narrative:

Upon parking with inoperative APU at mia; the right engine was shutdown with left engine running and red beacon on. While waiting for ground electric; I noted the cargo compartments indicated opened without communication between ground and cockpit. The B757/767 flight manual addresses opening cargo compartments with engines running. It says; 'if both engines are running; the captain will be requested (on interphone) to shut down the right/left engine to idle left/right engine. He should respond with shutting down left/right engine; left/right engine at idle. Ground personnel will advise when loading is complete.' while this directive pertains to another reason for opening a cargo compartment with engines running it logically applies to this situation. I presume this procedure exists to provide a safe procedure to open cargo door(s) with engines(s) running. Ironically; since only an aircraft generator was powering the aircraft; the doors could not be powered open until the ground power was plugged into the aircraft. Do ground personnel have the procedural option to open cargo compartment(s) with engine(s) running or are they required to verbally communicate with the captain? I have had past experiences where ground personnel have attempted to open a cargo door with both engines running which is intuitively dangerous.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B757 pilot reported that after parking at his gate with no APU and one engine running ground personnel opened the cargo compartments without communicating with the flight crew.

Narrative: Upon parking with inoperative APU at MIA; the right engine was shutdown with left engine running and red beacon on. While waiting for ground electric; I noted the cargo compartments indicated opened without communication between ground and cockpit. The B757/767 flight manual addresses opening cargo compartments with engines running. It says; 'If both engines are running; the Captain will be requested (on interphone) to shut down the right/left engine to idle left/right engine. He should respond with shutting down left/right engine; left/right engine at idle. Ground personnel will advise when loading is complete.' While this directive pertains to another reason for opening a cargo compartment with engines running it logically applies to this situation. I presume this procedure exists to provide a safe procedure to open cargo door(s) with engines(s) running. Ironically; since only an aircraft generator was powering the aircraft; the doors could not be powered open until the ground power was plugged into the aircraft. Do ground personnel have the procedural option to open cargo compartment(s) with engine(s) running or are they required to verbally communicate with the Captain? I have had past experiences where ground personnel have attempted to open a cargo door with both engines running which is intuitively dangerous.

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.