Captain reported APU MEL issues caused operational issues during ground operations in overseas areas...

Attributes
ACN	1748514
Time
Date	202006
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZZ.Airport
State Reference	FO
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B767-300 and 300 ER
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	APU
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural MEL Deviation - Procedural FAR Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Narrative:

The APU had been written up a half dozen times prior to my trip ZZZ-ZZZ1. The ZZZ station guide clearly states that the APU must be operational. However; maintenance control with dispatch in tow scheduled this plane to operate in middle east theater. I was not thoroughly briefed by maintenance with all the APU issues prior to departure. The start in ZZZ exposed a very hard electrical transfer that knocked off the APU generator. I questioned the issue with maintenance. Temperatures that day at ZZZ reached 46 degrees C while we were on the ramp. The APU failed 3 times. The ground power unit provided by the organization was useless and there where no other gpu available. Passengers had to sit in the dark plane with no air while we attempted to restore power to the airplane. ACARS comms do not reflect complete communication with dispatch. We were very very lucky to get one engine started.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Captain reported APU MEL issues caused operational issues during ground operations in overseas areas with excessive high temperatures.

Narrative: The APU had been written up a half dozen times prior to my trip ZZZ-ZZZ1. The ZZZ station guide clearly states that the APU must be operational. However; maintenance control with dispatch in tow scheduled this plane to operate in Middle East theater. I was not thoroughly briefed by maintenance with all the APU issues prior to departure. The start in ZZZ exposed a very hard electrical transfer that knocked off the APU generator. I questioned the issue with maintenance. Temperatures that day at ZZZ reached 46 degrees C while we were on the ramp. The APU failed 3 times. The ground power unit provided by the organization was useless and there where no other GPU available. Passengers had to sit in the dark plane with no air while we attempted to restore power to the airplane. ACARS comms do not reflect complete communication with dispatch. We were very very lucky to get one engine started.

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.