A321
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
ATC Issue All Types; Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe
Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem; General Declared Emergency
Aircraft
First Officer's (FO) leg and he flew it very well. Flight itself was uneventful. His landing was smooth.  The 'spoilers' call was made. Nothing was unusual. The '80' call was made. We had planned and briefed using taxiway 'T' due to our gate assignment. At 80 knots I noticed the airplane started to drift a little right of centerline. FO asked if I was ready for it. 'My aircraft; your aircraft.' I used the tiller to redirect the aircraft straight ahead. I applied upper rudder to make sure the autobrakes were disengaged. I then noticed the deceleration was continuing. I made a comment to FO about the autobrakes not disengaging. I pushed hard on the upper rudder once again but had no success. I asked the FO to use his rudder pedals to disengage the brakes. He had no success. The airplane continued to a full stop on the runway with the autobrakes fully engaged. I did a quick assessment of any aircraft controls that could possibly impact the autobrakes. Both the FO and I used our rudder pedals again after the airplane was at a complete stop. Again; no success. I began manipulating the thrust levers and throttles. I cycled the reverser levers. I tried applying a small amount of power in reverse and then replaced the thrust levers in forward. Nothing worked. The brakes remained on. Tower asked us to expedite off the runway. FO responded with an 'unable.' Tower then asked if we had a problem. I keyed the mic and responded 'YES.' Tower asked the same question again; I repeated my response 'YES we have a problem.' Then I added 'The brakes were locked on.' That was probably not the best description for my problem but I wanted to keep it short while I was troubleshooting. What happen next surprised me very much. The FAA Tower controller; on his own and without my knowledge or consent from me; declared an emergency on another frequency. He did not tell me he had done that until later. The two aircraft behind me were both sent around. In my effort to continue assessing anything that might have an impact I reached down and cycled the parking brake to Park and back to Off. Within a second or two of doing that I felt the brakes release and the aircraft moved an inch or so. I told the FO that I think the brakes kicked off and I then applied a small amount of power. The airplane moved normally. I applied the brakes to make sure they worked and they did. I then slowly taxied off the runway toward the gate. I applied the brakes 4 or 5 times while taxiing to the gate. Everything was working normally. I sat there and assessed the situation. At this point the airplane was working normally and I had a full load of people who needed to go through customs. I saw no threat to safety and used my judgment as Captain to request clearance to the gate. My thoughts were that it was perfectly safe to do so and doing so would have the least negative impact on both company and the airport. In response tower said; 'You want to go to the gate?' I responded 'YES' He said to 'Hold my position and remain with him' And this is when I was first told that I was an emergency aircraft. I asked the FO 'Who declared an emergency?' He said he 'did not know but here comes the trucks.' I looked around and saw several emergency vehicles responding. I asked tower; 'Who declared this emergency?' He told me he did. Rather than get into an argument I simply told him that our problem was resolved and to 'cancel the emergency' He seemed upset that I was canceling the emergency and made a few incomplete statements over the air. They were confusing and incomprehensible. I keyed the mic and clarified my request. I explained that everything was working normally and that I wanted to taxi to the gate. I also explained that I needed no assistance. He told me to stand by and after about a minute he told me to contact Ramp Control. The FO switch to Ramp Tower and requested gate. We were instructed by ramp control to taxi to the gate. I did so without incident and checked the brakes several times while taxiing. Engine shutdown and the checklist was completed. I contacted Maintenance and told them I am going to need them and I told them what happened. They already knew. Someone knocked on the door. The FO opened it. Two people wanted in. The first told me to contact the FAA Tower and the 2nd was the emergency response lead. For whatever reason; the team leader seemed to think we had dangerously hot brakes and he was there to help. He was shocked when I told him our brakes were normal temperature. The hottest brake was the left inside but it was only at 250 degrees and normal. This guy seemed to think he was responding to an emergency due to hot brakes. He asked me about the emergency and I explained to him that I did not declare an emergency. He was surprised and told me he was told we were an emergency. After I explained to him what the Tower had done and that it was without any coordination from me he shook his head; smiled and just walked away. I then telephoned the FAA Tower and had an interesting conversation. He started by trying to second guess what happen but he had his facts very mixed up. He asked why I taxied after the emergency trucks were dispatched. I told him I was not told they were dispatched and I did not declare an emergency. He seemed confused (again) and he then asked me who gave me permission to taxi to the gate? I told him ramp control did. He was very surprised at that and his attitude started to change. He clarified; 'Ramp Control told you to taxi to the gate?' I reaffirmed that they did. He then say; 'OK we thought you did it without permission.' It was obvious to me that this guy was the one in the tower that began making the unilateral decisions. He had declared the emergency and has passed along information to the emergency crews that was incorrect and created the illusion that this was not only an emergency but it was a big deal emergency. It was done all without my knowledge. I explained to him that once the autobrakes released the brake pressure returned to normal. It was my decision as Captain (and my judgment) to taxi the airplane as I believed it was perfectly safe to do so. He then started being friendly and professional. I think he realized he had made a mistake and his assumptions were wrong. Maintenance then entered and did some tests but could not find anything wrong; He asked if I had tried recycling the nose wheel steering switch and I said no. That switch was in my planned sequence of things to try but the situation corrected itself before I got to it so I never moved the switch. I also never recycled the auto brake button but had looked at it and saw that it was illuminated. But again the situation corrected itself before I got to the button. I then called my dispatcher and discussed it. He took notes and then informed me of two important details that I was not aware of. He told me that he was told someone reported leaking fluid behind the aircraft as I taxied. Certainly no one did that on the frequency I was on and no one relayed the information to me. The post flight walk around did not reveal any such problem so I don't know where he got that information. I told him it was a bad and untrue rumor that I had no knowledge of. He then told me that the airport has had several similar incidents in recent months with similar results. He didn't go as far as to say it was the FAA Tower Controller but I got that impression. He chuckled and stopped the conversation so as not to place blame by rumor.  I understood and didn't press it. There is one more piece of information that may be a clue. On both flights to and from ZZZZ we had unusual heat build-up on the brake system. I know these brakes 'like to get hot;' but this was more than I usually see. In ZZZZ I actually checked the brake temperatures as we were cleared on the runway for takeoff. They were normal. But after the gear came up the ECAM went off indicating hot brakes. We took care of it but that is unusual. I discussedthis in detail with maintenance. Aircraft system malfunction and a Lack of proper coordination between Tower's reaction and the desires of the Captain. Listen to the ATC Communications and also the Cockpit voice recorder. Listen to where the breakdown occurred and retrain as needed. I fully understand that if an error is to be made that a conservative error is far better than otherwise. But unless there was a crash; fire or incapacitation; the Captain should always be involved in decisions that affect his airplane. In this incident; the Captain was not involved and was not informed. That alone caused most of the confusion and problems.
A321 Captain reported the flight crew could not release the autobrakes after a normal landing until after coming to a full stop and cycling the parking brake several times.