Narrative:

After leaving the flight planning area and arriving at the aircraft; we observed that fueling was under way. Approximately 52K short of our planned gate fuel; we noticed that fueling stopped. A short time later the fueler came to the cockpit and informed us that electrical power to the fueling panel had failed; and he was unable to continue fueling. We contacted maintenance. The mt (maintenance technician) tried resetting circuit breakers but was unsuccessful in restoring power to the fueling panel. I contacted maintenance control by phone and he informed me they were looking at the situation; but that they saw no legal way to defer the fueling panel. When I asked if the plane was being taken out of service; he said that was likely if power could not be restored to the fueling panel. Maintenance control made no reference to trying to fuel the aircraft with the manual fuel valves. A short time later the local mt came to the cockpit and said he was going to remove all electrical power from the aircraft in an attempt to reboot the fueling panel. We went through this process three times to no avail. Removing all external; APU; and battery power from the aircraft. It became very hot onboard the aircraft during this process. It was not successful; and we once again restarted the APU to cool down the aircraft since the passengers and crew were becoming very uncomfortable. At this point I started asking customer service what the plan was; since the passengers had been onboard for a very long time; we had no maintenance release; or expectation of a maintenance release in the near future; and we were approaching our cco time. Shortly after this; the mt came back to the cockpit and asked us to shut down the APU; and informed us the aircraft had a fuel leak. External air was hooked to the aircraft but it was not working well; it again became very hot onboard. One of my fos went down to the ramp to inspect the fuel leak; and came back and informed me it was not dripping; but streaming down the fuselage aft of the gear. I informed the gate agent we needed to deplane due to fire hazard. Shortly thereafter the mt came back to inform me the aircraft was no longer leaking fuel; and that he had attempted to fuel the aircraft by using the manual fuel valves; and something had broken; or words to that effect. At this point I detected a slight scent of jet fuel; I then went down to the ramp myself; and saw that the aircraft was still leaking fuel; and it was streaming; not dripping; and at an alarming rate. I then ran back up the jetway stairs to the cockpit; and called for airport fire services via the VHF comm radio. The temperature in the cabin continued to increase as did the smell of jet fuel. I had the lead flight attendant position her crew at the doors in case evacuation became necessary. I told the agent I wanted the passengers off as soon as possible. He informed me that they wanted to keep them onboard while they booked them hotels. I continued to repeat my demands that they deplane the aircraft for safety reasons. After being continually ignored by cs to deplane; I ordered the passengers to deplane at door 1L using the PA. When I asked the mt if he had talked to maintenance control regarding his plan to fuel using the manual valves; he answered in the affirmative. In all candor I'm skeptical this desperate fueling scheme was coordinated with maintenance control; but I could be wrong. What I do know is our ZZZZ mts made a bad situation much worse by inducing a fuel leak when the plane could not have been legally dispatched anyway. Passengers were complaining of fuel fumes when they left; and were subjected to an unsafe situation. I have serious concerns over how maintenance conducts operations in ZZZZ. On an earlier flight during our six day trip; during the segment from ZZZZ to ZZZZ1; we had a simple lavatory door deferral that was also handled incorrectly. The door was not locked off or placarded per the MEL when the cabin door was closed. Wethen had to resolve this before pushback. Regarding ZZZZ customer service; I fully understand the boarding and deplaning of aircraft is under their purview. But clearly during irregular and emergency situations; captains authority must be respected in the interest of safety. They did not follow my instructions in a timely manner; and this could have quickly turned into a dire emergency.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B777 Captain reported enduring fueling difficulties at an international station resulting in the cancellation of the trip.

Narrative: After leaving the flight planning area and arriving at the aircraft; we observed that fueling was under way. Approximately 52K Short of our planned gate fuel; we noticed that fueling stopped. A short time later the fueler came to the cockpit and informed us that electrical power to the fueling panel had failed; and he was unable to continue fueling. We contacted Maintenance. The MT (Maintenance Technician) tried resetting circuit breakers but was unsuccessful in restoring power to the fueling panel. I contacted Maintenance Control by phone and he informed me they were looking at the situation; but that they saw no legal way to defer the fueling panel. When I asked if the plane was being taken out of service; he said that was likely if power could not be restored to the fueling panel. Maintenance Control made no reference to trying to fuel the aircraft with the manual fuel valves. A short time later the local MT came to the cockpit and said he was going to remove all electrical power from the aircraft in an attempt to reboot the fueling panel. We went through this process three times to no avail. Removing all External; APU; and Battery power from the aircraft. It became very hot onboard the aircraft during this process. It was not successful; and we once again restarted the APU to cool down the aircraft since the passengers and crew were becoming very uncomfortable. At this point I started asking customer service what the plan was; since the passengers had been onboard for a very long time; we had no maintenance release; or expectation of a maintenance release in the near future; and we were approaching our CCO time. Shortly after this; the MT came back to the cockpit and asked us to shut down the APU; and informed us the aircraft had a fuel leak. External air was hooked to the aircraft but it was not working well; it again became very hot onboard. One of my FOs went down to the ramp to inspect the fuel leak; and came back and informed me it was not dripping; but streaming down the fuselage aft of the gear. I informed the gate agent we needed to deplane due to fire hazard. Shortly thereafter the MT came back to inform me the aircraft was no longer leaking fuel; and that he had attempted to fuel the aircraft by using the manual fuel valves; and something had broken; or words to that effect. At this point I detected a slight scent of jet fuel; I then went down to the ramp myself; and saw that the aircraft was still leaking fuel; and it was streaming; not dripping; and at an alarming rate. I then ran back up the Jetway stairs to the cockpit; and called for airport fire services via the VHF comm radio. The temperature in the cabin continued to increase as did the smell of Jet fuel. I had the Lead Flight Attendant position her crew at the doors in case evacuation became necessary. I told the agent I wanted the passengers off ASAP. He informed me that they wanted to keep them onboard while they booked them hotels. I continued to repeat my demands that they deplane the aircraft for safety reasons. After being continually ignored by CS to deplane; I ordered the passengers to deplane at door 1L using the PA. When I asked the MT if he had talked to Maintenance Control regarding his plan to fuel using the manual valves; he answered in the affirmative. In all candor I'm skeptical this desperate fueling scheme was coordinated with Maintenance Control; but I could be wrong. What I do know is our ZZZZ MTs made a bad situation much worse by inducing a fuel leak when the plane could not have been legally dispatched anyway. Passengers were complaining of fuel fumes when they left; and were subjected to an unsafe situation. I have serious concerns over how maintenance conducts operations in ZZZZ. On an earlier flight during our six day trip; during the segment from ZZZZ to ZZZZ1; we had a simple lavatory door deferral that was also handled incorrectly. The door was not locked off or placarded per the MEL when the Cabin door was closed. Wethen had to resolve this before pushback. Regarding ZZZZ Customer service; I fully understand the boarding and deplaning of aircraft is under their purview. But clearly during irregular and emergency situations; Captains Authority must be respected in the interest of safety. They did not follow my instructions in a timely manner; and this could have quickly turned into a dire emergency.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.