Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness; Communication Breakdown
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
General Maintenance Action
Aircraft; Human Factors; Procedure
Upon arriving at the aircraft I began my first flight of the day preflight actions in the cockpit and my First Officer left the cockpit to do a preflight walk around inspection. He returned rather quickly and advised me that there was a significant fuel leak/spill underneath the aircraft. I immediately shut down the APU; had external power removed; and instructed my flight attendants to stop what they were doing and exit the aircraft as soon as possible. I then went outside of the aircraft to see what was going on. When I arrived I observed a ground crew from the fuel vendor company who had already set up the apparatus that is used to contain fuel spills. I observed a significant fuel spill that was approximately six feet in diameter. I also observed a steady stream of fuel actively leaking from the fuel sump underneath the center fuel cell. [The mechanic] was holding a tool and beginning to work on stopping the leak. He was able to stop the flow of the leak fairly quickly. I then asked the mechanic what was the issue. He stated that it was in fact the fuel sump that had caused the problem. I asked him if he intended to write that up in the AML. He said no and he stated that a write up was not necessary. I told him that I disagreed and that I intended to write it up myself and so I did. The same mechanic completed the sign off process and we were eventually cleared by Operations to continue. The rest of the flight operation was without any further issues. This is completely unacceptable. There is no way that any certificate holding professional should ever allow something like this to go undocumented. This lackadaisical approach to maintenance and safety is an outrage. This should not be tolerated and it speaks volumes about the approach to maintenance and safety that unfortunately I am seeing far too many times as the extreme; undue pressure builds on this beleaguered workforce to meet operational metrics.
CRJ Captain reported a steady stream of fuel was leaking from a fuel sump.