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An A319 crew arrived for preflight and found two APU circuit breakers pulled but the maintenance release indicated no anomalies. A call to maintenance revealed the mechanics in the tail working on the APU did not alert the crew creating a dangerous environment for themselves.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 970417 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201109 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0001-0600 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Light | Night |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | A319 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Parked |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | APU |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Pilot Flying Captain |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 85 Flight Crew Total 14500 Flight Crew Type 3900 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy |
Narrative:
When we arrived at the plane the 'ecb sply' (L41) and 'APU control' (L42) circuit breaker's were pulled. There was no notice that maintenance action being taken posted anywhere in the cockpit. We initiated the ACARS and our 'rls verification' came up stating that the maintenance release from dispatch was still good. We decided to call maintenance on the VHF just to make sure and were informed that the maintenance technicians were replacing the igniter's on the APU. There are two major problems here. First and foremost; there was no indication that the maintenance technicians were working on the plane. Given that the maintenance release was still good; a crew that was working a tight turn might assume all was ok; reset the circuit breaker's and attempt to start the APU. This was potentially very dangerous to the maintenance technicians up in the tail! Second; the fact that the tail of the plane was cracked open for work and the 'rls verification' indicated the maintenance release was still good is flat out wrong.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: An A319 crew arrived for preflight and found two APU circuit breakers pulled but the maintenance release indicated no anomalies. A call to maintenance revealed the mechanics in the tail working on the APU did not alert the crew creating a dangerous environment for themselves.
Narrative: When we arrived at the plane the 'ECB SPLY' (L41) and 'APU CTL' (L42) CB's were pulled. There was no notice that maintenance action being taken posted anywhere in the cockpit. We initiated the ACARS and our 'RLS Verification' came up stating that the Maintenance Release from dispatch was still good. We decided to call maintenance on the VHF just to make sure and were informed that the maintenance technicians were replacing the igniter's on the APU. There are two major problems here. First and foremost; there was no indication that the maintenance technicians were working on the plane. Given that the maintenance release was still good; a crew that was working a tight turn might assume all was OK; reset the CB's and attempt to start the APU. This was potentially very dangerous to the maintenance technicians up in the tail! Second; the fact that the tail of the plane was cracked open for work and the 'RLS Verification' indicated the Maintenance Release was still good is flat out wrong.
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.