A B747-400 captain was concerned that he was unable to deplane the passengers during maintenance act...

Narrative:

After returning to the gate following an aborted takeoff. The airplane started doing some very strange things. The auto speed brake motor started running; but no movement of the lever. I also noticed quite a few status messages. Basically the aircraft started load shedding (I think).it was then that I noticed the entire cabin was dark. I tried to manually turn on the emergency cabin lights and they would not turn on. The mechanic then turned on the #1 and #4 hydraulic demand pumps and the normal cabin lights came on. The hydraulic synoptic showed everything normal; but it was anything but normal. This happened about four or five times and the mechanics were as dumbfounded as we were.my concern is that after this happened a few times I was uncomfortable with the passengers being on a dark aircraft (it was after sunset); and I asked the agents to deplane. I was told we couldn't because of lack of security. The agents did not do as I asked; they simply waited me out. We were on the ground for about one hour; much of the time in the dark. I consider this to be a safety issue that could have escalated; had a flight attendant or an overactive passenger become uncomfortable with being in the dark. Please call with any questions.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B747-400 Captain was concerned that he was unable to deplane the passengers during maintenance activities that repeatedly plunged the cabin into darkness. Passengers agents were unwilling to comply with the request because of security issues.

Narrative: After returning to the gate following an aborted takeoff. The airplane started doing some very strange things. The auto speed brake motor started running; but no movement of the lever. I also noticed quite a few Status Messages. Basically the aircraft started load shedding (I think).It was then that I noticed the entire cabin was dark. I tried to manually turn on the emergency cabin lights and they would not turn on. The Mechanic then turned on the #1 and #4 hydraulic demand pumps and the normal cabin lights came on. The hydraulic synoptic showed everything normal; but it was anything but normal. This happened about four or five times and the Mechanics were as dumbfounded as we were.My concern is that after this happened a few times I was uncomfortable with the passengers being on a dark aircraft (it was after sunset); and I asked the agents to deplane. I was told we couldn't because of lack of security. The agents did not do as I asked; they simply waited me out. We were on the ground for about one hour; much of the time in the dark. I consider this to be a safety issue that could have escalated; had a Flight Attendant or an overactive passenger become uncomfortable with being in the dark. Please call with any questions.

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	914027
Time
Date	201010
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZZ.Airport
State Reference	FO
Environment
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B747-400
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Electrical Power
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural Security Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown

A B747-400 captain was concerned that he was unable to deplane the passengers during maintenance activities that repeatedly plunged the cabin into darkness. Passengers agents were unwilling to comply with the request because of security issues.