Narrative:

Upon landing we noticed aircraft pulling to the left at first brake application and the anti-skid activating. The aircraft pulled to the left the entire taxi to the gate. Along with the pull the brake temperature was gradually increasing. By the time we got to the gate the btms [brake temperature monitoring system] was indicating 9 and 9 on the left main gear.we had a maintenance technician on board and had him on the job immediately. We waited for 30 minutes for another contract maintenance technician to show up with a jack to check the brakes. The brakes were locked and it took three separate attempts of cycling the brakes from the cockpit to free them. After the third attempt the contract mechanic came up to the cockpit and told me they were still locked. Ten seconds later our mechanic came up to the cockpit and said they are good and he would fill out the paperwork. No taxi check was performed. The technician's only action was to clean the brakes. I was surprised no taxi check was performed. I have had brake temperature problems before and a taxi check was always ordered.we pushed back with 27 people on board and noticed our spoilerons and spoilers were going up and down erratically along with my RA reading 0. The first officer's RA was fluctuating between five and fifteen. We then called maintenance control who told us to continue taxi and that it was probably a lot of metal under the taxiway and our close proximity to the terminal and to keep an eye on it. Got to end of the runway with the RA problem still there and the brake temperatures going from 3-3 to 7-8; still pulling left. Called maintenance control and was told to defer the RA and brake temps were within limits. I exclaimed; 'what!; that's out of limits and dangerous to attempt takeoff.' he then backed off and said he didn't mean that it was okay for takeoff but that he thought we were having a btms problem. I repeated we had brake temps of 7-8 and that we would go back to the gate. We were told it was ok to return to the gate immediately but we decided to wait 15 minutes to let them cool down and also called the fire department to come out and follow us to the gate in case something happens; plus they could keep an eye on them with their own eyes.just outside the gate we got an 11-10 on the btms followed by the gear ovht warning message. Our first thought was to evacuate the cabin there; but the fire department said they were just smoking and they would keep an eye on them and would be ready to jump to action if things got worse. We taxied the remaining 50 ft to the gate and got the passengers off quickly. We were then informed by the fire squad that we had a flat on the left inboard and possibly the right one too. They attacked the left gear with fans at first followed by the hose.here's where it got crazy and frustrating. I called maintenance control to advise them of the emergency; notified our dispatcher and scheduler to bring them in the loop. [I was] told by maintenance that the maintenance technician would be over soon. Two hours later we were still sitting in the aircraft and had not heard from anybody. Called maintenance control and was told he should have been there already. In the next two hours we kept calling scheduling and maintenance to see what our plans were going to be. Nobody could make a decision.finally talked to our gate agent and was told the flight had been canceled. Called scheduling for the 5th time and was told we were going to fly the aircraft out to get it fixed. Refused the assignment and when asked why; I told her we have two open write ups and two flat tires and melted brakes. Was told we had to fly it and that she didn't understand what a flat tire is. I kid you not. When I explained to her what it was; she said 'oh; you had an engine fire.' I explained again and was told I have to accept the assignment and would I like to talk to her supervisor. I said no; that I would like to talk to a chief pilot.at this point I was ready to pull my hair out. Not so much the emergency of having 2;500 degree brakes under my fuel tank; but with the disbelief of the lack of concern and lack of communication between maintenance control; scheduling; dispatchers and flight operations; and the feeling of being pressured into flying an unsafe aircraft. In 26 years here I have never experienced this and never wish to again.talked to the chief pilot and told him the story. He couldn't believe what was happening. He said he would call back in 20 minutes or so. We packed up the aircraft and headed for baggage claim seeing the flight was canceled; the airport was closed due to severe thunderstorms; and that parts would have to driven down from another airport to fix the plane. Finally got a call back from the chief pilot only to be told the aircraft would be fixed soon and we need to fly it to another airport.we told them that at this point; we were not going to fly and that we were tired from all the frustration. The chief pilot then asked us if we were calling in fatigued. We all said yes. This bad chain of events had to be stopped before there is an accident. In four hours; maintenance never came to the airplane to look at the brakes; yet they were already sending us a ferry permit to go to someplace else to fix the airplane; when in fact; they would have to fix the airplane before it was ok to ferry to anyplace.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A CRJ Captain related a lengthy tale of faulty maintenance and pilot pushing by the company when the left brakes locked up and overheated on taxi-out.

Narrative: Upon landing we noticed aircraft pulling to the left at first brake application and the anti-skid activating. The aircraft pulled to the left the entire taxi to the gate. Along with the pull the brake temperature was gradually increasing. By the time we got to the gate the BTMS [Brake Temperature Monitoring System] was indicating 9 and 9 on the left main gear.We had a maintenance technician on board and had him on the job immediately. We waited for 30 minutes for another contract maintenance technician to show up with a jack to check the brakes. The brakes were locked and it took three separate attempts of cycling the brakes from the cockpit to free them. After the third attempt the contract mechanic came up to the cockpit and told me they were still locked. Ten seconds later our mechanic came up to the cockpit and said they are good and he would fill out the paperwork. No taxi check was performed. The technician's only action was to clean the brakes. I was surprised no taxi check was performed. I have had brake temperature problems before and a taxi check was always ordered.We pushed back with 27 people on board and noticed our spoilerons and spoilers were going up and down erratically along with my RA reading 0. The First Officer's RA was fluctuating between five and fifteen. We then called Maintenance Control who told us to continue taxi and that it was probably a lot of metal under the taxiway and our close proximity to the terminal and to keep an eye on it. Got to end of the runway with the RA problem still there and the brake temperatures going from 3-3 to 7-8; still pulling left. Called Maintenance Control and was told to defer the RA and brake temps were within limits. I exclaimed; 'WHAT!; That's out of limits and dangerous to attempt takeoff.' He then backed off and said he didn't mean that it was okay for takeoff but that he thought we were having a BTMS problem. I repeated we had brake temps of 7-8 and that we would go back to the gate. We were told it was OK to return to the gate immediately but we decided to wait 15 minutes to let them cool down and also called the Fire Department to come out and follow us to the gate in case something happens; plus they could keep an eye on them with their own eyes.Just outside the gate we got an 11-10 on the BTMS followed by the GEAR OVHT warning message. Our first thought was to evacuate the cabin there; but the Fire Department said they were just smoking and they would keep an eye on them and would be ready to jump to action if things got worse. We taxied the remaining 50 FT to the gate and got the passengers off quickly. We were then informed by the Fire Squad that we had a flat on the left inboard and possibly the right one too. They attacked the left gear with fans at first followed by the hose.Here's where it got crazy and frustrating. I called Maintenance Control to advise them of the emergency; notified our Dispatcher and Scheduler to bring them in the loop. [I was] told by maintenance that the maintenance technician would be over soon. Two hours later we were still sitting in the aircraft and had not heard from anybody. Called Maintenance Control and was told he should have been there already. In the next two hours we kept calling Scheduling and Maintenance to see what our plans were going to be. Nobody could make a decision.Finally talked to our Gate Agent and was told the flight had been canceled. Called Scheduling for the 5th time and was told we were going to fly the aircraft out to get it fixed. Refused the assignment and when asked why; I told her we have two open write ups and two flat tires and melted brakes. Was told we had to fly it and that she didn't understand what a flat tire is. I kid you not. When I explained to her what it was; she said 'oh; you had an engine fire.' I explained again and was told I have to accept the assignment and would I like to talk to her Supervisor. I said no; that I would like to talk to a Chief Pilot.At this point I was ready to pull my hair out. Not so much the emergency of having 2;500 degree brakes under my fuel tank; but with the disbelief of the lack of concern and lack of communication between Maintenance Control; Scheduling; Dispatchers and Flight Operations; and the feeling of being pressured into flying an unsafe aircraft. In 26 years here I have never experienced this and never wish to again.Talked to the Chief Pilot and told him the story. He couldn't believe what was happening. He said he would call back in 20 minutes or so. We packed up the aircraft and headed for baggage claim seeing the flight was canceled; the airport was closed due to severe thunderstorms; and that parts would have to driven down from another airport to fix the plane. Finally got a call back from the Chief Pilot only to be told the aircraft would be fixed soon and we need to fly it to another airport.We told them that at this point; we were not going to fly and that we were tired from all the frustration. The Chief Pilot then asked us if we were calling in fatigued. We all said yes. This bad chain of events had to be stopped before there is an accident. In four hours; Maintenance never came to the airplane to look at the brakes; yet they were already sending us a ferry permit to go to someplace else to fix the airplane; when in fact; they would have to fix the airplane before it was OK to ferry to anyplace.

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.