Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Distraction; Training / Qualification; Situational Awareness; Physiological - Other
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
Aircraft Equipment Problem Dissipated; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action; General Evacuated; General Flight Cancelled / Delayed; General Maintenance Action; General Physical Injury / Incapacitation
Human Factors; Procedure; Weather
My First Officer and I arrived one hour before departure at gate. I immediately went to operations and my First Officer stayed on the plane to prepare the plane for departure. I returned back to the plane 15 minutes later after flight planning. I started doing my cockpit checks as my First Officer stepped out to do the walk around. Gate agents started boarding the passengers. Purser notified me that cabin temperature was cold and she needed water pressure. I started the APU after the fire test and I turned on the air condition packs for heat. Shortly after; Purser notified me of smoke and haze filling the cabin. My First Officer walked in and said that there was excessive deicing fluid dripping from the airplane. I also smelled a strong glycol smell. I immediately turned off the packs and APU bleed. I also ordered the Lead Flight Attendant to deplane the passengers. The smell; smoke and haze started burning eyes and throats of the passengers and crew. I notified Operations of the situation and called the mechanics to the plane. I also asked the deicing to be stopped immediately. Everybody quickly departed the plane using the Jetway. One older female wheelchair passenger was helped to leave the plane. The Lead Flight Attendant noticed that passenger was having difficulty breathing. She brought the portable oxygen bottle from the plane and started giving oxygen to the passenger. Paramedics were called and she received medical assistance inside the terminal. Eventually she was taken to a hospital. Customer Service (CSR) Supervisor and Gate Agents were all notified and passengers were moved back to the terminal. Mechanics showed up and started working on the plane. They ventilated the plane by using external air and air conditioning packs. I also called both Duty Manager and the Maintenance Control to report the situation. Maintenance Control made a write-up for us since we could not access the airplane. I also had a chance to talk to deicing Truck Driver. He told me that they thought that we were not in the cockpit before they started deicing. So they did not attempt to contact us to configure the airplane for deicing. He said that they thought the APU was off and Boom Operator was experienced. He said that Boom Operator must have accidentally sprayed the APU intake. It took a long time to glycol smell to disappear. Cabin crew and passengers did not want to board till airplane completely cleared of smell and haze. I noticed that Lead Flight Attendant and one other flight attendant's eyes were red and irritated from the glycol. The Lead Flight Attendant also started losing her voice. Finally after one hour; aircraft cabin air returned to normal and we started boarding. One couple with a young baby refused to board and returned to terminal.  We departed 1 hour 5 minutes late due to this incident. I think similar incidents can be easily avoided in the future by communicating with flight crews and configuring the aircraft for deicing. Unfortunately I have been noticing a growing trend of lack of communication between the departments or employees. Necessary communication or information exchange has been seen as a burden by maintenance or ops personnel. It is a big treat to our safety. It can cause a serious injury or accident.
A De-ice Crew did not know an A320's APU was operating during de-ice at the gate so after the APU injected glycol the aircraft had to be evacuated because it filled with fumes and smoke which made some passengers ill.