Dash 8-200
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Confusion
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Flight Crew Returned To Gate; General Flight Cancelled / Delayed; General Maintenance Action
Aircraft; Company Policy
On taxiout; we were given an approximate XA:30 pm wheels up time from air traffic control. After parking in the holding block; that time was moved up to a little after XB:00 pm. I conferred with dispatch and considering the fuel load; warmer temperatures and passenger connections; the decision was made to return to the gate. When pushing forward the power levers from DISC to begin the taxi; the left engine torque surged to at least 60%. I immediately brought the power levers back to DISC where the surge subsided in less than 5 seconds. This all happened fast; so the percentage and time are the best estimations from myself and the first officer.Upon arrival at the gate and deplaning of passengers I contact maintenance control for the write up. Originally the suggestion of control was to conduct an engine run up. At this time I also suggested and then had to request contract maintenance to inspect the engine.  Contract maintenance conducted a visual inspection and stated no damage was noted. No logbook entry was made or signed off during this visual inspection. I then agreed to conduct the engine run up as described to me by maintenance control. I wrote down these instructions: Run Flight Idle at DISC unfeathered; auto feather arm is off; 10-15 minutes; bring to flight idle at least three times during that 10-15 minutes. No abnormalities were noted during the run up and it was at this time maintenance control wanted me to sign off the logbook saying everything was good to go. Per POM RESET/FIX OF SIMPLE ITEMS; I was not sure if an engine surge and subsequent tests was something I was able to sign off on. On two occasions I spoke to the Manager of Flight Standards who from what I could tell interpreted this situation falling into the Simple Item criteria. I also spoke to the Chief Pilot on two occasions when it was suggested I get the official Bombardier test criteria from maintenance control to confirm the test I did satisfies the scenario I described.I agreed to this and attached the test that was emailed to me from maintenance control. Not long after receiving the test; the Chief Pilot informed me the Director of Maintenance wanted the Flight Data Recorder reviewed thus canceling the flight. When it comes to signing off Maintenance Items in the Logbook; perhaps more clarification on what a pilot can and cannot sign off would be helpful. For example; what is a simple item or a reset and what is not...particularly when it comes to engine concerns. Also; what tests can a pilot sign off on. In this particular scenario; how did a simple reset/engine run up evolve into the flight data recorder needing to be analyzed. Also; when trying to coordinate maintenance events such as this; I think it would be helpful to have a conference call including dispatch; maintenance and others. Making several phone calls to various individuals leaves room for miscommunication and ultimately causes the solution time to be increased.
Dash 8-200 Captain reported an engine surge while beginning taxi and returned to the gate. After a run up was preformed by the Captain with no anomalies detected; the Captain was asked to sign off the log book using the 'RESET/FIX OF SIMPLE ITEMS' provision of the Operations Manual but the Captain did not believe this was applicable.