A319
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Communication Breakdown; Situational Awareness; Time Pressure
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown
General Flight Cancelled / Delayed; General Maintenance Action; General Release Refused / Aircraft Not Accepted
Aircraft; Company Policy; Human Factors; Manuals; Procedure
Our aircraft was late arriving. As the last passenger deplaned I entered the cabin via door 1L and noticed the 1R EXIT marking sign was very dim. On closer inspection there were 6 of 14 bulbs not illuminated which put the sign significantly outside of MEL tolerances and could potentially ground the aircraft at a station where parts were not available. I immediately notified Maintenance and wrote it up in the AML. When; during the crew briefing; I informed the flight attendants of the discrepancy they informed me that several other signs in the cabin were similarly dim. I inspected the cabin and found more EXIT Marking and several EXIT Location signs outside of MEL tolerances. I wrote them up in the AML per the company's safety/maintenance policy for repair. Maintenance arrived and suspended passenger boarding to accommodate their work in the cabin to fix the EXIT signs. With an approximate 10 minute delay on passenger boarding the lights were revamped and boarding resumed. Maintenance took the AML into the jetway to complete the paperwork to document the repair. After completion of the repair the Maintenance technician returned the AML to the flight deck for our approval. As I looked over the repairs in the AML the technician waited in the flight deck. When I finished he wanted to know if I was the Captain that did the write up. When I answered in the affirmative he asked 'Do you hate us (Maintenance) or do you just like writing up things at departure time and causing delays? Have a nice day.' Without an answer he turned and exited the flight deck. I followed him onto the jetbridge and asked if he wanted an answer to his question and he responded; 'I know the answer. I was just being facetious. Have a nice day.' I consider both answers unacceptable and inappropriate in a Safe; Regulatory Compliant and harassment free workplace. Each and every write-up was outside of the MEL tolerances with a total of 25 bulbs not illuminated. The MEL allows for a total of 18 bulbs to be inoperative on the ENTIRE aircraft with no more than three in any of the 6 EXIT marking and 0 (zero) in the 4 EXIT Location signs. The bulbs required for this repair are not carried on board the aircraft in the spare bulb inventory. If the write-up had taken place at an outstation the delay would have been significant; historically 6-7 hours; to fly the bulbs in for the 10 minute repair. Our flight departed the gate eight minutes late and arrived at its destination only two minutes behind schedule. Our prompt response and coordination with Maintenance and passenger service avoided what could have been a significant delay. I have verified with several sources and determined that exit lighting deficiencies are required to be corrected on the aircraft's weekly check; at a minimum; yet I continued to receive aircraft with significant cabin EXIT Marking and EXIT Location sign deficiencies fresh out of multiple; required; periodic checks with airworthiness releases. Falsification; Neglect and Incompetency are words that should never be applied to a company where SAFETY and REGULATORY COMPLIANCE are cornerstone phrases in their MISSION STATEMENT. Yet; company Maintenance has a history of neglect and falsification of the required weekly cabin light checks. These lights (EXIT Location and EXIT Marking Signs) are consistently outside (by a considerable margin) tolerances allowed by the pertinent MEL. If Maintenance Management would emphasize the importance of servicing them; line technicians would understand how to fix and maintain them so as to avoid future delays and confrontations with conscientious flight crews. Management should include cabin light service in the daily check for at least one month to allow all aircraft to be brought into MEL compliance. Additionally; we should add at least one bag (25) of the appropriate bulbs to the onboard bulb inventory to avoid delays at outstations.
An A319 Captain; contacted maintenance to replace a total of 25 bulbs in the aircrafts EXIT signs; the MEL allowing a maximum of 16 burnt out bulbs.