An A320 captain reported refusing an aircraft after the cockpit door was MEL'ed inoperative and unab...

Narrative:

This aircraft had a MEL item. The cockpit door chime was inoperative. The fix was to defer the aircraft with the door keypad disconnected with the caveat that the door cockpit would not be accessible from the outside. I talked to the dispatcher and was told that it would not be fixed prior to the flight (two hour sit) but would be deferred to the overnight station for repair. I was asked if I would be willing to fly it the one leg to repair (it had multiple legs on it already). I refused the aircraft. I feel that we plan for the worst case scenario and in this situation if a situation arose that the crew was unable to help themselves; then they were doomed due to the inability to access the cockpit. After explaining this thought process to the dispatcher; who relayed it to maintenance; the aircraft was shopped to a flight to a different destination. I don't understand how an aircraft could be deferred with any door access unavailable.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An A320 Captain reported refusing an aircraft after the cockpit door was MEL'ed inoperative and unable to be opened from the outside. Maintenance attempted to get other flight crews to accept the aircraft.

Narrative: This aircraft had a MEL item. The cockpit door chime was inoperative. The fix was to defer the aircraft with the door keypad disconnected with the caveat that the door cockpit would not be accessible from the outside. I talked to the Dispatcher and was told that it would not be fixed prior to the flight (two hour sit) but would be deferred to the overnight station for repair. I was asked if I would be willing to fly it the one leg to repair (it had multiple legs on it already). I refused the aircraft. I feel that we plan for the worst case scenario and in this situation if a situation arose that the crew was unable to help themselves; then they were doomed due to the inability to access the cockpit. After explaining this thought process to the Dispatcher; who relayed it to Maintenance; the aircraft was shopped to a flight to a different destination. I don't understand how an aircraft could be deferred with ANY door access unavailable.

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.

Attributes
ACN	879290
Time
Date	201003
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Dusk
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A320
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Cockpit Door
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 130 Flight Crew Total 14000 Flight Crew Type 4130
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural FAR Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown

An A320 captain reported refusing an aircraft after the cockpit door was MEL'ed inoperative and unable to be opened from the outside. Maintenance attempted to get other flight crews to accept the aircraft.