Narrative:

Crew arrived at the airport following short overnight to originate using aircraft B737-400. The aircraft was still parked off gate at the hardstand having spent the night at the airport. When ramp personnel started the APU and turned on air conditioning pack; the cabin filled with smoke and fumes. Ramp personnel opened all doors and ventilated the aircraft before finally delivering it to gate. I was standing in the jetway as the forward entry door was opened and immediately smelled a very strong locker room or dirty sock smell which was very intense; acrid; and irritating. I took two steps into the aircraft entry and immediately turned around and hurried off the aircraft due to the intensity of the probable toxic fumes. I informed the agents that that aircraft was not safely acceptable for operation in its' current condition. I then began co-ordinating between the dispatcher; crew scheduling; maintenance; and the local agents to remedy the situation. I was told there was a pool of oil found in the air conditioning pack. I called the chief pilots office and told one of the new assistants the situation and that it was necessary for health and safety reasons to refuse the aircraft. Ground personnel ventilated the aircraft with all doors open for about another hour and ran the pack. I was then asked to re-evaluate the smell. I was concerned about filling the cabin with passenger and 5 crew then shutting all doors those harmful possibly toxic fumes would be inhaled by all onboard. As soon as I entered the jetway; I could smell the same odor but at reduced intensity. I closed all doors except the forward entry door and ran both packs individually for a short period of time; then did a cabin inspection. I could still smell the fumes and was uncomfortable on the airplane. So I re-opened the doors to ventilate and exited the airplane. Two different crew members entered the aircraft and confirmed the smell. I then informed scheduling; dispatcher; maintenance control; and the local agents that the aircraft was unacceptable in its' current condition still. The flight was then canceled. After all this; I was finally able to review the aircraft logbook for the first time. Incredibly; there was no entry by maintenance of the occurrence or remedial action taken. They told me they didn't want it documented in the maintenance log but that they would fill out their forms. I informed local maintenance that that was unacceptable. To resolve the issue; I entered a maintenance log book write-up describing the occurrence to force maintenance to properly document the discrepancy and remedial work performed so far to correct the problem. Local maintenance also tried to tell me it was anti-ice fluid that was burned by the APU but that is an entirely different smell and a ridiculous attempt to send an unsafe aircraft into operations. The next flight out to our base was scheduled to depart mid afternoon. That aircraft inbound experienced an electrical malfunction so an aircraft swap was accomplished with guess which aircraft; the one we refused. The new crew for that flight were lied to and told the problem was anti-ice fluid being burned by the APU and that everything was fine. Incredibly; the new crew elected to take the aircraft. My crew wouldn't even deadhead home on that aircraft and traveled home on our own. And by the way; this was our last day and last leg of this trip so we had nothing to gain from a delay or cancellation on what would be our flight home. The very fact that I feel it necessary to mention this is a testament to the poor safety culture at this airline. This is a continuation of the toxic fume problem that is ongoing at this airline while management continues to apply band aids and attempt to intimidate crews to operate unsafe aircraft. The attempt to keep aircraft discrepancies and maintenance actions performed on the aircraft out of the maintenance log book to avoid documented history is criminal and prevents the next crew from obtaining valuable information. And of course; it is illegal per far's as well. Yet the FAA and the us legal system continue to look the other way. I wish I knew what more I could do to protect the safety and health of the traveling public and employees within this toxic safety culture existing at this air carrier.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737-400 Captain refused an aircraft during morning preflight because the cabin filled with smoke and fumes that smelled like dirty socks. Another crew later accepted that aircraft after being told the smell's source was anti-ice fluid not oil.

Narrative: Crew arrived at the airport following short overnight to originate using aircraft B737-400. The aircraft was still parked off gate at the hardstand having spent the night at the airport. When ramp personnel started the APU and turned on air conditioning pack; the cabin filled with smoke and fumes. Ramp personnel opened all doors and ventilated the aircraft before finally delivering it to gate. I was standing in the jetway as the forward entry door was opened and immediately smelled a very strong locker room or dirty sock smell which was very intense; acrid; and irritating. I took two steps into the aircraft entry and immediately turned around and hurried off the aircraft due to the intensity of the probable toxic fumes. I informed the agents that that aircraft was not safely acceptable for operation in its' current condition. I then began co-ordinating between the Dispatcher; Crew Scheduling; Maintenance; and the local agents to remedy the situation. I was told there was a pool of oil found in the air conditioning pack. I called the Chief Pilots Office and told one of the new assistants the situation and that it was necessary for health and safety reasons to refuse the aircraft. Ground personnel ventilated the aircraft with all doors open for about another hour and ran the pack. I was then asked to re-evaluate the smell. I was concerned about filling the cabin with passenger and 5 crew then shutting all doors those harmful possibly toxic fumes would be inhaled by all onboard. As soon as I entered the jetway; I could smell the same odor but at reduced intensity. I closed all doors except the forward entry door and ran both packs individually for a short period of time; then did a cabin inspection. I could still smell the fumes and was uncomfortable on the airplane. So I re-opened the doors to ventilate and exited the airplane. Two different crew members entered the aircraft and confirmed the smell. I then informed Scheduling; Dispatcher; Maintenance Control; and the local agents that the aircraft was unacceptable in its' current condition still. The flight was then canceled. After all this; I was finally able to review the aircraft logbook for the first time. Incredibly; there was no entry by Maintenance of the occurrence or remedial action taken. They told me they didn't want it documented in the maintenance log but that they would fill out their forms. I informed Local Maintenance that that was unacceptable. To resolve the issue; I entered a maintenance log book write-up describing the occurrence to force Maintenance to properly document the discrepancy and remedial work performed so far to correct the problem. Local Maintenance also tried to tell me it was anti-ice fluid that was burned by the APU but that is an entirely different smell and a ridiculous attempt to send an unsafe aircraft into operations. The next flight out to our base was scheduled to depart mid afternoon. That aircraft inbound experienced an electrical malfunction so an aircraft swap was accomplished with guess which aircraft; the one we refused. The new crew for that flight were lied to and told the problem was anti-ice fluid being burned by the APU and that everything was fine. Incredibly; the new crew elected to take the aircraft. My crew wouldn't even deadhead home on that aircraft and traveled home on our own. And by the way; this was our last day and last leg of this trip so we had nothing to gain from a delay or cancellation on what would be our flight home. The very fact that I feel it necessary to mention this is a testament to the poor safety culture at this airline. This is a continuation of the toxic fume problem that is ongoing at this airline while management continues to apply band aids and attempt to intimidate crews to operate unsafe aircraft. The attempt to keep aircraft discrepancies and maintenance actions performed on the aircraft out of the maintenance log book to avoid documented history is criminal and prevents the next crew from obtaining valuable information. And of course; it is illegal per FAR's as well. Yet the FAA and the US legal system continue to look the other way. I wish I knew what more I could do to protect the safety and health of the traveling public and employees within this toxic safety culture existing at this air carrier.

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.