I think that if the CA had known that he was being video taped it would've been a much different conversation. One thing for sure the CA was lacking some major cajones dealing with that situation.

I agree with you wholeheartedly. Refuse the aircraft. This would be the seasoned CA response.

Same goes for having no APU in Canada during the middle of winter . . . . NO THANKS!

JFK Delays...
 

I have spent alot of time sitting on taxiways in kennedy, with the door closed thank you very much! The APU is a MEL'able item and not very strong arguement for refusing airplane, regardless of how hot it is outside. There is a more diplomatic solution to the problem. You accept the airplane ask for extra gas (since you will have to run a motor the entire time) and you go out and taxi. If you just so happen to go below min T/O becuase your delay was too long.... OH WELL!!!!! You will then return to the gate, hopefully sometime the same day:D

Beagle

Its a good thing the quality of service isn't directly proportional to my pay. haha

I'm with everyone on this. Tell the passenger to take his seat but more importantly...refuse the aircraft!!!

quick question....

Several folks have mentioned the horrors of being aboard an airplane in the summer time w/o an operating APU.

Is this to say that the aircrafts air conditioning system cannot/is not run by the engines while the plane is on the ground?

I always thought that once the engines were running, power for the a/c systems came from that, and not necessarily the APU.

Obviously Im missing something here, guys. Heh.

I would say it has more to do with his judgment than anything else. Sorry, but I'm siding with the PAX on this one.

As many have commented, the captain could have refused to take the airplane. Sure, the APU is deferable, but this is where judgment and thinking outside the box come in. In extreme weather, whether it be hot or cold, this borders on a safety issue as well as a comfort issue.

There is one option that I would have exercised: I would have run an engine on the ground until it flamed out from fuel starvation. Now the aircraft has to be towed to the gate.

I have never flown any type of regional jet, but if they are like any other jet (and I would have to think they are), then yes, you can run the a/c on the ground solely on engine power.

However, so many companies are feeling the pinch of high fuel prices that the crews feel pressured/intimidated to save fuel at just about any cost.

was it only the APU deffered or was there more? The door to the airplane seemed open in the video, they were talking to some ground crew, seemed to be lightning outside, and you could see other RJ's in the background, which looked an awful lot like they were @ the gate already, and weren't being allowed off the plane because of lightning.

But as said earlier, once an engine is started, airconditioning can be run off of it as opposed to the APU, if the plane didn't have an APU they should have/could have started an engine, if the plane wasn't at the gate, and there was no apu, then an engine would have already been running, cause these things aren't like cessnas....the engines don't start off the batteries.

I think they are complaining because the engines don't provide enough bleed air pressure to cool the cabin unless the power is brought up above idle. It is the same in the MD. One guy mentioned that he moved over to a run up area and spooled up the engines to provide more bleed air pressure. I do this regularly on the MD. I don't go to a run up area but when I have to stop in line for take off, I will spool from about 50% N2 (idle) to about 63% N2. That translates to about 1.05 EPR. This makes a very noticeable difference in the temperature of the air from the gaspers. It is above idle but not so much as to create a hazard to aircraft behind me. I don't know why the RJ guys don't do the same thing. Maybe too much power is needed on the RJ.

Also on the EMB-120. running the bleeds in auto on the ground is WAAAAAY better to cool the cabin. If you forget to change them back to low for TO they should "automatically" switch back. If you get a hot smelly pack on the ground with the bleed in Auto, your pack cooling fan is F'd up. Write it up.

Thanks in advance from all your suffering passengers. :D