B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Communication Breakdown
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
General None Reported / Taken
Procedure; Human Factors; Company Policy
Parking at the gate; we were advised that we would be parking with APU off. After setting the parking brake we waited for the GPU to come online. We received the 'chime' from the ground crew but we were showing that no power was connected. I attempted to get our marshaller's attention. That was difficult to do because the attention was on the ground crew. Finally I was able to give hand signals that we had no ground power. The marshaller then attempted to communicate with the ramper who was in charge of the GPU but also had difficulty because of the noise level from the engine. Finally after about 2 minutes power was established and the engine was shutdown. During this time I was not sure about the safety of the other rampers as the engine was running longer than normal.
A B737 Captain; was advised not to start the APU on arrival. Captain grew concerned when the ground crew was unable to connect ground power; while the engine continued to run to provide power; thus; providing a hazardous working environment for ground crew.