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B737 captain reported hydraulic leak detected by ramp personnel; indicative of flight crew preflight procedural revision required.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1614145 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201901 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Parked |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | Hydraulic System |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Captain Pilot Flying |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 153 Flight Crew Total 2356 Flight Crew Type 2356 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical |
Narrative:
By following the new SOP which requires the hydraulic electric pumps to be turned off during the walk around; the first officer was not able to ascertain the fact that we had a significant hydraulic leak. It was only after the pumps were turned on several minutes later during the first officer cockpit flows that the leak started. Luckily; a ramper spotted the leak and notified maintenance. Maintenance in turn told us; and then diagnosed the leak issue. Maintenance control ultimately determined not to operate the airplane; and we swapped airplanes. Bottom line; the safe operation should not rest upon the keen eyes of a ramp employee. If we had the pumps on the way we used to for years; this would have been noticed by the first officer; and the reporting/diagnosing/swap process could have started much sooner.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: B737 Captain reported hydraulic leak detected by ramp personnel; indicative of flight crew preflight procedural revision required.
Narrative: By following the new SOP which requires the hydraulic electric pumps to be turned off during the walk around; the First Officer was not able to ascertain the fact that we had a significant hydraulic leak. It was only after the pumps were turned on several minutes later during the First Officer cockpit flows that the leak started. Luckily; a ramper spotted the leak and notified maintenance. Maintenance in turn told us; and then diagnosed the leak issue. Maintenance Control ultimately determined not to operate the airplane; and we swapped airplanes. Bottom line; the safe operation should not rest upon the keen eyes of a ramp employee. If we had the pumps on the way we used to for years; this would have been noticed by the First Officer; and the reporting/diagnosing/swap process could have started much sooner.
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.