Narrative:

I reviewed the maintenance release at operations. There were some cabin items and an item stating that the nose gear tires were changed and there were no explanations. I did not suspect anything unusual about the tires. We were ready to go. All doors closed. We received pushback clearance when I noticed an ACARS message. It read: 'we are on the phone with the captain from the previous flight and he says that he had to use differential braking on rollout and said that the nose wheel and rudder steering did not respond initially on rollout. Once on the taxiway steering was ok but on rollout; it was not responding. Just wanted to make sure you are ok and know all of what occurred. Please advise if you have further concerns'. I canceled the pushback and called the dispatcher and maintenance control on the phone. The dispatcher also made a conference call to the captain of that flight. He said due to strong cross winds and wind shear that day; four hours earlier; prior to my imminent departure; landing gear endured extreme cross control. Once under control tower advised of smoke from nose tires. Fire department inspected the fire and escorted the aircraft to the gate. Maintenance changed the nose gear tires with no background of what had transpired. I had a full load of passengers who trusted our judgment and felt safe. I was the commander of that airplane who felt cheated. How could you justify [ignoring] a safety matter of this magnitude? Why does this safety issue come at seconds before push back? Why didn't the other three pilots show their concerns by failing to write the proper narrative in the logbook? Why did the captain wait that long? Why did maintenance change the tires so subordinately without challenging the issue? What would happen if the nose gear steering did not work on my takeoff roll?

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B747-400 flight crew returned their aircraft to the gate when undocumented maintenance issues were brought to their attention in a message from the Dispatcher.

Narrative: I reviewed the maintenance release at operations. There were some cabin items and an item stating that the nose gear tires were changed and there were no explanations. I did not suspect anything unusual about the tires. We were ready to go. All doors closed. We received pushback clearance when I noticed an ACARS message. It read: 'We are on the phone with the Captain from the previous flight and he says that he had to use differential braking on rollout and said that the nose wheel and rudder steering did not respond initially on rollout. Once on the taxiway steering was OK but on rollout; it was not responding. Just wanted to make sure you are OK and know all of what occurred. Please advise if you have further concerns'. I canceled the pushback and called the Dispatcher and Maintenance Control on the phone. The Dispatcher also made a conference call to the Captain of that flight. He said due to strong cross winds and wind shear that day; four hours earlier; prior to my imminent departure; landing gear endured extreme cross control. Once under control Tower advised of smoke from nose tires. Fire department inspected the fire and escorted the aircraft to the gate. Maintenance changed the nose gear tires with NO BACKGROUND of what had transpired. I had a full load of passengers who trusted our judgment and felt SAFE. I was the Commander of that airplane who felt cheated. How could you justify [ignoring] a safety matter of this magnitude? Why does this safety issue come at seconds before push back? Why didn't the other three pilots show their concerns by failing to write the proper narrative in the logbook? Why did the Captain wait that long? Why did maintenance change the tires so subordinately without challenging the issue? What would happen if the nose gear steering did not work on my takeoff roll?

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.