MD80 flight crew was informed by the tower while waiting for takeoff that their APU was emitting a l...

Attributes
ACN	895665
Time
Date	201006
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	MD-80 Series (DC-9-80) Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Component
Aircraft Component	APU
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor

Narrative:

As we were taxiing out for takeoff; we were given a long departure delay because of weather. We arrived at the end of a line of aircraft and noticed lots of blue smoke around the area. We were wondering where it was coming from when the control tower called us and told us the smoke was coming from us. An airplane behind us told us it was coming from our APU. We used the 'off agent arm switch' and shut down the APU. We declared an emergency and had the aircraft around us and the emergency equipment check us out for any smoke or fire. With no indication of smoke or fire we taxied back to the gate. There was never any smoke or fumes in the cabin.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: MD80 flight crew was informed by the Tower while waiting for takeoff that their APU was emitting a large amount of smoke. APU was then shut down and flight returned to the gate.

Narrative: As we were taxiing out for takeoff; we were given a long departure delay because of weather. We arrived at the end of a line of aircraft and noticed lots of blue smoke around the area. We were wondering where it was coming from when the Control Tower called us and told us the smoke was coming from us. An airplane behind us told us it was coming from our APU. We used the 'off agent arm switch' and shut down the APU. We declared an emergency and had the aircraft around us and the emergency equipment check us out for any smoke or fire. With no indication of smoke or fire we taxied back to the gate. There was never any smoke or fumes in the cabin.

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.

MD80 flight crew was informed by the tower while waiting for takeoff that their APU was emitting a large amount of smoke. APU was then shut down and flight returned to the gate.