B737-800
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 98; Flight Crew Type 16000
Workload; Communication Breakdown
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General Maintenance Action; General Release Refused / Aircraft Not Accepted
Procedure; Aircraft; Company Policy
We arrived at the aircraft and began our preflight procedures. These proceeded normally except that during my logbook review; I noticed that the #1 engine had been written up five times during the last 18 days for excessive fuel leak during engine start on the first flight of the day. I mentioned to my First Officer to take a good look at the #1 engine and see if there are any signs of additional fuel leaks. He reported that the engine looked fine and we boarded and proceeded to push for departure. The #2 engine started normally and since the taxi was relatively short and the aircraft was an originator; I chose to start the #1 engine. After pushback and disconnect; the Ramp guys reconnected the intercom and said we had a large leak from the #1 engine. We shut it down and returned to the gate. I called Dispatch and Maintenance Control and wrote the engine up as 'fuel leak on start.' Maintenance Control authorized Contract Maintenance and they arrived at the aircraft in about 15 minutes. Maintenance Control asked that we do an engine run. We complied and before the engine reached idle; Ramp and Contract Maintenance were yelling at us to shut the engine down. We complied. Apparently; during engine start; fuel came out of the drains similar to water from a hose. We then had Passengers removed and Ops began to reroute them. Maintenance Control then had Contract Maintenance perform an 'actuator bite check' via the FMC. This was accomplished with no errors noted during the bite check. Maintenance Control then asked us to do a second engine run and we complied. The five-minute run was successfully completed and Maintenance Control declared that the engine was fixed and ready for revenue flight.Problems:Six write-ups including mine in the last 19 days for the exact same problem. When I informed Maintenance Control about that fact; (no name here; but can be supplied) he stated that he had only one previous incident during the first part of April. I had only the current logbook and I had six.Maintenance Control stated that this was the approved procedure to correct this problem and that 'this happened all the time' with both -700 and -800 engines. Fortunately; I guess that I have been extremely lucky in all my years flying and have had some occasional leaks during start but these quickly cleared on a subsequent engine run. I have never had an engine spew fuel like water from a hose on start. I realize that sometimes overnight the seals can shrink and you can have some leaks on start. I have seen this. Because of the history on this engine; I called the Chief Pilot on Duty and informed him and Dispatch that this aircraft; in my opinion; was not safe for revenue flight. The Chief Pilot and the Dispatcher agreed.Next problem; apparently the Maintenance Control (name can be supplied if desired) and; possibly a Dispatcher Supervisor (not sure of the name here but have an idea because I don't think that the Dispatcher that I was working with (name can be supplied) was involved unless he was directed in the following issues.Dispatch would not cancel the flight and pressured the Supervisor (name can be supplied) to reboard the aircraft. She refused. I was checking my Scheduling board and saw that I was rerouted to fly Flight an out and back then deadhead. Scheduling wanted me to call to check on duty day. When I called; I asked what happened to the Captain on the inbound flight. She stated that she didn't know but he was being pulled. Before I even left the gate to go to the new gate; a Captain (the one from Flight XXX) came up and said he was supposed to take the Flight. He asked what the problem was so I told him the entire story. He refused to take the aircraft. Scheduling had him return to his aircraft and continue his trip. After several more scheduling changes; we were directed to ferry the problem aircraft. During preflight; I noticed that on the aircraft flow sheet; the aircraft was going a revenue flight and RON in XXX. I called Dispatch again and got the Chief Pilot on Duty in a three-way. The Chief Pilot hadn't been informed of these developments but apparently Maintenance Control and a Dispatch Supervisor felt they could end run my assessment of the aircraft. The aircraft was going into a gate in XXX and then continuing on. I was now getting upset with this situation and the Chief Pilot can verify that I was now irritated. I have not refused an aircraft in over 16 years; but this was a safety of flight issue and it is my responsibility for safe flight of both my Passengers and my Crew. This is a responsibility that I do not take lightly. I guess that getting irritated accomplished something because when we arrived in XXX; we were directed to the hangars.Unfortunately; this isn't the end of the issues. Apparently; there was considerable pressure on the originating airport Supervisor to continue the flight (name can be supplied). She has been at our Company longer than I have and can never remember a time when a Dispatch Supervisor and a Maintenance Controller had ever called her to pressure her to continue a flight with an aircraft that the Captain felt should not fly. Also; our Flight Attendants were being pressured to continue this flight and one even had to call her union for support because the pressure was so great. They also talked to their Inflight Supervisors for support.I have a vested interest in my Company and have done everything possible in over 16 years to support the Company. I really believe that my job is the safe conduct of flights for our Company; followed by Customer Service and ontime performance. I fully understand that Senior Management wants to keep the airplanes flying because they make no money at the gate. I also know that we are extremely short of airplanes and that the -800 that was taken off line was a big impact. However; I think that some people do not realize that a major aircraft accident would have much greater impact on Company's bottom line.I would like to thank the Chief Pilot on Duty and the XXX Chief Pilots for their support in this issue. I'm sure the XXX Chief Pilots know my record here at Company and know that I do my job the best that I know how. I do not take lightly turning down an airplane.This issue needs to be investigated; particularly; the issue of overriding a Captain who has a safety of flight issue. Bottom line; revenue cannot take priority over Safety. Priorities should be re-evaluated by some decision makers in Maintenance Control and Dispatch.
We had a fuel leak on the #1 engine after pushback from the gate. We were notified of the event; shut down the engine; and taxied back into the gate. Contract Maintenance contacted Company Maintenance Control and directed an engine run. We conducted an engine run and immediately stopped the procedure due to the large amount of fuel gushing from the engine. Maintenance ran an actuator bite check to fix the fuel seal issue and a subsequent engine run was accomplished with no problems. Due to the five previous write-ups for a fuel leak on this engine within the past three weeks; conversations with Maintenance Control/Dispatch/Chief Pilot on Call; the Captain decided to accept a one-time ferry flight to a Maintenance facility to get the aircraft fixed (to avoid unnecessary risk to revenue Customers). However; Maintenance Control applied pressure to take the aircraft against the Captain's judgement to include calling another Captain in to take the flight and bad mouthing the Captain's actions to one of our Flight Attendants (F/A was told by Maintenance Control 'the Captain was too scared to take the airplane'). The entire Crew supported the Captain's decision. I feel this was undue pressure applied by Maintenance Control to take a potentially unsafe aircraft with Passengers aboard simply for the purpose of generating revenue.
A B737-800 Captain refused an aircraft after fuel flowed unchecked from an engine after start. The anomaly occurred intermittently six previous times.