Narrative:

We preflighted the aircraft boarded the passengers and got the paperwork from the gate. Once all of our paperwork was complete and handed out the window we executed our checklists in preparation for engine start and pushback. We noticed that our ground crew had left us. We contacted operations to get a pushback crew. A maintenance van pulled up next to our aircraft. One of our maintenance personnel brought over an object and handed it to us through the hatch. The items were boot patches and a tin can. The mechanic told us through the hatch to take the items to our destination for maintenance there. The can had a pungent odor so we placed it with the boot patches in a plastic bag and had the flight attendant place the items in the galley area of the aircraft. After a great deal of confusion with local operations and dispatch we finally pushed back and departed. Upon our arrival in we delivered the maintenance items (epoxy and patches) to local operations and continued our day. Later in our pairing; after thinking about the situation; we realize that we may have inadvertently been transporting hazmat that we should not have been transporting. I am not really sure what was in the can. It most likely was some type of chemical used to make the patch stick to a boot on the wing.this event occurred for a few reasons. First; dispatch did not communicate to us the need to deliver these materials. They did however communicate with local operations and we ended up ready to depart with no ground support. We contacted local operations three times asking for help and they never told us that dispatch wanted us to wait for something for maintenance. I called dispatch during the chaos and talked to them directly about the situation that morning and they still never told me that they had held the flight. As a result I was focused on trying to get the support we needed to get the flight out. When the mechanic delivered the items that we probably should not have taken; I was focused on the other issues at hand which were trying to get our flight out. When maintenance did give us the items it never crossed my mind that perhaps this was something that did not need to be on our airplane. Our communication needs to get better. I understand that I am the PIC and I am responsible for the safety of my aircraft. This is a responsibility that I fully accept. I allowed us to compromise our safety because I was distracted by local operations and dispatch. Because of the distraction; I did not realize the implications of my actions at the time.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An SF340 Captain reports transporting a can of deicing boot patch cement on a revenue flight; then thinking afterwards that Hazmat documentation was required.

Narrative: We preflighted the aircraft boarded the passengers and got the paperwork from the gate. Once all of our paperwork was complete and handed out the window we executed our checklists in preparation for engine start and pushback. We noticed that our ground crew had left us. We contacted Operations to get a pushback crew. A maintenance van pulled up next to our aircraft. One of our Maintenance personnel brought over an object and handed it to us through the hatch. The items were boot patches and a tin can. The mechanic told us through the hatch to take the items to our destination for maintenance there. The can had a pungent odor so we placed it with the boot patches in a plastic bag and had the flight attendant place the items in the galley area of the aircraft. After a great deal of confusion with Local Operations and Dispatch we finally pushed back and departed. Upon our arrival in we delivered the maintenance items (epoxy and patches) to Local Operations and continued our day. Later in our pairing; after thinking about the situation; we realize that we may have inadvertently been transporting Hazmat that we should not have been transporting. I am not really sure what was in the can. It most likely was some type of chemical used to make the patch stick to a boot on the wing.This event occurred for a few reasons. First; Dispatch did not communicate to us the need to deliver these materials. They did however communicate with Local Operations and we ended up ready to depart with no ground support. We contacted Local Operations three times asking for help and they never told us that Dispatch wanted us to wait for something for Maintenance. I called Dispatch during the chaos and talked to them directly about the situation that morning and they still never told me that they had held the flight. As a result I was focused on trying to get the support we needed to get the flight out. When the mechanic delivered the items that we probably should not have taken; I was focused on the other issues at hand which were trying to get our flight out. When Maintenance did give us the items it never crossed my mind that perhaps this was something that did not need to be on our airplane. Our communication needs to get better. I understand that I am the PIC and I am responsible for the safety of my aircraft. This is a responsibility that I fully accept. I allowed us to compromise our safety because I was distracted by Local Operations and Dispatch. Because of the distraction; I did not realize the implications of my actions at the time.

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.