B767-300 and 300 ER
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Communication Breakdown
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Maintenance
General Maintenance Action
Company Policy; Human Factors; Procedure; Aircraft
I have operated Aircraft X with a deferred APU three legs this week. Every leg had a delay and/or stressful complication associated. I am going to highlight every error this week in this report to shed light on the trend I saw primarily with our maintenance practices. Incident 1During final preparations immediately prior to door closure a mechanic came on board to encourage us to get going as soon as possible to minimize delays in the blocks while starting via air cart. He then hastily and without communication with us communicated to ground crew to pull GPU power and reached on the overhead panel and turned off the external power. The airplane went to battery power; he then realized his mistake; turned the power back on just in time for ground personnel to pull the GPU plug. After a couple minutes we were able to restore ground power and started checking and resetting aircraft systems; ACARs and FMC inputs. Incident 2A delay was incurred while assessing an ice detection system while in the blocks; and due to the air start being required the delay was compounded. Incident 3Immediately after block in while preforming shut down duties maintenance pushed stairs to the aircraft and opened the door themselves. Within three minutes of block in while we were still in our seats filling out logbooks; sending on messages; and securing the flight deck a mechanic again reached up and without communication with me turned off external power. The aircraft went dark; the ACARs reset before the on message was sent. Two suggestions. Maintenance needs to be trained to respect our space while the flight crew is in operational control of the aircraft. It is not okay to just reach up and flip switches while a pilot in in operational control of an aircraft. Once I hand the logbook over they can perform their duties without any interference from us; just as I stand back and take a seat when I come on board an airplane and see them in the middle of their duties. Also there seems to be a real uptick in the trend of APU deferrals and repeat write ups on APUs in recent months at [Company].
B767 Captain reported that prior to flight there was a lack of coordination between flight crews and maintenance in regards to APU deferrals.