Originally Posted by
Master of FiFi
Actually, it is that easy. It happens all the time. And it may not be your job to physically turn off the ground A/C, but it is your job to maintain a safe atmosphere. Say an old lady passes out because it's "not your job" to turn off the 100 degree external air when the ramp won't do it. Who's going to have to talk to the lawyers? The person in charge of the aircraft. So in that sense, it is my job to go turn it off if the ramp doesn't do it.
That attitude is the reason we are the butt of all the Internet jokes about poor customer service.
/Cranky and hot commuter
//Turn the air on!!
OK, I'll continue to whip this now unrecognizable dead horse and take it from burger all the way to pink mist. You will be violating the AFM if you turn the packs on without disconnecting ground air... period! Good luck with trying to explain that if called on it. So much for hyperbole. We used to do it all the time until the procedures were changed about a dozen years ago and I don't know of any actual instances of damaging the AC system by simultaneously running the packs and external air. This is so simple, keep the airplane cool, but don't crack back on your fellow pilots unless you really know the whole story. Common sense... an uncommon virtue.