Narrative:

The first officer and I arrived late at our aircraft due to late arrival on previous aircraft and changing aircraft and gates. While in the middle of our preflight procedures our load closeout came up on the ACARS (xa:47 for a xa:55 push). This was a surprise to us since we hadn't even had time to send in our fuel yet!after calling operations to ask if we didn't have to send in our fuel load any longer they said we still did but they would check why we received our closeout and also asked us for our fuel quantity at this time. This is a clear violation. We are always asked for our fuel quantity prior to getting load closeout if it has not been sent. The correct load closeout was sent a few minutes later showing the correct fuel.this event occurred because most people are concerned with on time departures and not safety! Since we were late someone took it upon themselves to make up the fuel quantity and then send it to us! After receiving the false load closeout information I told operations we would be pushing late and not to try to push us into closing the door to show an on time departure. We would close the door when we had finished our duties on the flight deck. We closed the door only 4 minutes late!the need to show and close the door on time or earlier precludes all safety to the flight and as a captain I am seeing this culture being driven from the top on down! Slow down!!!! Stop trying to push the plane 10 minutes early and think about safety; not on time departures.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737-900 Captain took exception to the attempts by ground personnel to expedite a potentially late departure by circumventing prescribed weight and balance SOP.

Narrative: The First Officer and I arrived late at our aircraft due to late arrival on previous aircraft and changing aircraft and gates. While in the middle of our preflight procedures our load closeout came up on the ACARS (XA:47 for a XA:55 push). This was a surprise to us since we hadn't even had time to send in our fuel yet!After calling Operations to ask if we didn't have to send in our fuel load any longer they said we still did but they would check why we received our closeout and also asked us for our fuel quantity at this time. This is a clear violation. We are always asked for our fuel quantity prior to getting load closeout if it has not been sent. The correct load closeout was sent a few minutes later showing the correct fuel.This event occurred because most people are concerned with on time departures and not safety! Since we were late someone took it upon themselves to MAKE UP the fuel quantity and then send it to us! After receiving the false load closeout information I told Operations we would be pushing late and not to try to PUSH US into closing the door to show an on time departure. We would close the door when we had finished our duties on the flight deck. We closed the door only 4 minutes late!The need to show and close the door on time or earlier precludes all safety to the flight and as a Captain I am seeing this culture being driven from the top on down! SLOW DOWN!!!! Stop trying to push the plane 10 minutes early and think about safety; not on time departures.

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.