Narrative:

Upon arrival at the gate I attempted to coordinate an aircart to be put on the aircraft as we had a four hour sit at the airport and I knew the aircraft would become very hot without an aircart. I was assured by the ground crew that an aircart would be put on the aircraft. When we returned from lunch 40 minutes before departure I checked to see if there was an aircart on the aircraft and there was not. I asked the gate agent to call operations and request an aircart. I also called operations via radio 35 minutes prior to departure to again request an aircart. Additionally; I asked the ground crew around the aircraft for an aircart. An air cart arrived 25 minutes prior to departure. I watched as the ground crew struggled to find the proper compartments for both power and external air. It was as if they had never before done this as they searched and opened different compartments. The aircart was inadequate to cool the aircraft; very little air coming out of the cart and warm. I explained to the ground crew that the aircraft was heat soaked and that we were going to need a second aircart to cool the aircraft. The response was that there were limited resources and that there was no other aircarts available. At 20 minutes prior to departure the gate sent all the passengers down to the aircraft. The gate had been told several times that the aircraft was too hot to board; the gate agent did not check on the aircraft and simply sent the passengers 20 minutes prior. She later stated that she need not have a confirmation of readiness to board and that she sends people at 20 prior. At 25 minutes past departure time a second aircart arrived and was exchanged for the 'broken' aircart. I insisted that the aircart being removed be used through the front door to cool the plane. I was told that it was broken. Knowing that the aircraft was heat soaked and that the aircart was simply not able to keep up I insisted that they use it through the door 'working or not'. Five to ten minutes after the aircart was put through the front door the aircraft was cool enough to board. We began the boarding process. This went fairly smooth with the exception of a lack of communication from the gate to either the ground or flight crews as to how many passengers were to be boarded. We sat for five to ten minutes with no more passengers coming out; but unable to close the door for lack of communication. Finally; one lone young girl walked across the ramp to the airplane unaccompanied holding a red striped envelope. When she boarded the aircraft there was no paper work for an unaccompanied minor in the envelope. Additionally; she had no bracelet. I asked for paperwork; but the gate was unable to produce any. I asked how old she was and was told she was 10 years old. There were two other unaccompanied minors on the flight as well; I was later told (so as to not confuse the others with the much younger girl that they tried to board without paperwork). The flight attendant kept her on the plane until a gate agent was able to escort her back to the building. I was later told by a gate agent that it is partner airline policy to board kids alone outside of the unaccompanied minor program. For example; I asked if it is ok to board a ten year old girl alone and without paperwork. She said that it is fine so long as the parents bought the ticket and did not want to pay the unaccompanied minor fee/participate in the program. Nonetheless; the unaccompanied minor in question had no paper work in her envelope so I had little choice but to leave her behind. She was clearly very young and had an unaccompanied minor envelope with her so I can only assume that she was indeed participating in the program. I felt that there were too many unanswered questions and too large of a liability for my air carrier and myself to accept the girl as an unaccompanied minor without any paperwork. I was actually able to get the engine started at this point in an effort to keep the passengers cool. However; this was short lived. I had to shut down the engine and open the cabin door to resolve the next issue as notes out the whisky hatch were not working. Nor could I get the ground crew to respond via headset even though I kept trying to signal to put on the headset. The next issue that we encountered was a cargo load report problem. The load slip showed all the bags as loaded into the aft bin. The weight and balance notified us of the out of balance situation. I requested that eight bags be moved from the rear to the front bin to satisfy the requirement. This is when I was told that all the bags were actually in the front bin; the rear bin was empty. I requested that a new cargo load slip be filled out properly. The old one was illegible and ripped into two pieces. A load slip was apparently not readily available as it took some ten minutes for a slip to make it to the aircraft. After getting a load slip we ran the checklist and were ready to start the aircraft. However; the ground crew had disappeared. There was literally nobody near the aircraft at all. Another flight had come in and we were abandoned. This is commonplace with this station's ground operations and has happened to me several times on different occasions. I called ops for a marshaller and waited another five minutes or so. Finally; we were able to start the engine and it appeared that we were ready to push the aircraft. However; I could not communicate with the ground crew over the headset. They could hear me; but I could not hear them. I was not able to adequately communicate with hand signals. It is unclear if the hand signals were not known; if bad habits were to blame or if I was just simply being ignored. I gave the brakes released signal and said brake is released cleared to capture at least twice without a response. At this point I decided that this was going down the road of a non-SOP operation and that because of the continued lack of communication over the course of all these problems that it would be best to request another headset. I was told that another headset was coming. This took about ten to fifteen minutes. When it also would not work I wondered if the aircraft itself was broken. I began to work out hand signals with a ground manager. However; decided that I could not leave at this point not knowing if there was a potential short in the aircraft wiring. Additionally; I did not feel completely comfortable working out hand signals via a one-way conversation on the headset. At the very minimum; I was going to need to shut the aircraft down to work out communication. I shut down the aircraft assuming that I would write up the airplane for the ground to flight deck communication system and use hand signals per the MEL. During the course of the conversation with the manager it became clear that it was not the aircraft communication system that was broken. She said that none of the headsets they have work with the saabs. That they were given one headset some time ago. The headset had broken and was in the shop for repairs for the last two weeks. I asked her to be clear; 'so you have not had ground to flight deck communication with any saab for at least the last two weeks.' she said that was the case since the headset broke. At this point we were at min fuel and were going to have to order more fuel. Given the difficulty with obtaining an aircart earlier; the rising temperature of the cabin and the fact that it had been heating up again for some time now... And facing the difficulties of trying to do this all over again I decided it was best to remove the passengers as I saw no way that this ramp could possibly get it together enough to coordinate getting the plane out with the passengers on board in a timely fashion. I am in no way trying to 'prove a point' with this (my third pushback report in a week). However; it just keeps happening to me. In this case I could not over come the lack of communication and continue the operation given the actions of the ground operation over the course of the turn as I had no assurance that the push would be performed correctly without verbal communication. Also; I ordered 200 pounds. More fuel for the next attempt to depart in anticipation of needing to cool the plane with the engine for lack of an aircart. It would give me a buffer if more of the same happened... I add this comment only as the operations manager asked why and I am not sure I gave him a clear answer as I was working to coordinate the next attempt to leave. I expected more issues and wanted to be prepared.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A SF-340 pilot described the boarding and deplaning events that resulted from improper aircraft handling while the aircraft was on the ground and no air conditioning was available. Ground personnel were unresponsive to requests for assistance and not equipped to push the aircraft off the gate for flight because of communications.

Narrative: Upon arrival at the gate I attempted to coordinate an aircart to be put on the aircraft as we had a four hour sit at the airport and I knew the aircraft would become very hot without an aircart. I was assured by the ground crew that an aircart would be put on the aircraft. When we returned from lunch 40 minutes before departure I checked to see if there was an aircart on the aircraft and there was not. I asked the gate agent to call operations and request an aircart. I also called operations via radio 35 minutes prior to departure to again request an aircart. Additionally; I asked the ground crew around the aircraft for an aircart. An air cart arrived 25 minutes prior to departure. I watched as the ground crew struggled to find the proper compartments for both power and external air. It was as if they had never before done this as they searched and opened different compartments. The aircart was inadequate to cool the aircraft; very little air coming out of the cart and warm. I explained to the ground crew that the aircraft was heat soaked and that we were going to need a second aircart to cool the aircraft. The response was that there were limited resources and that there was no other aircarts available. At 20 minutes prior to departure the gate sent all the passengers down to the aircraft. The gate had been told several times that the aircraft was too hot to board; the gate agent did not check on the aircraft and simply sent the passengers 20 minutes prior. She later stated that she need not have a confirmation of readiness to board and that she sends people at 20 prior. At 25 minutes past departure time a second aircart arrived and was exchanged for the 'broken' aircart. I insisted that the aircart being removed be used through the front door to cool the plane. I was told that it was broken. Knowing that the aircraft was heat soaked and that the aircart was simply not able to keep up I insisted that they use it through the door 'working or not'. Five to ten minutes after the aircart was put through the front door the aircraft was cool enough to board. We began the boarding process. This went fairly smooth with the exception of a lack of communication from the gate to either the ground or flight crews as to how many passengers were to be boarded. We sat for five to ten minutes with no more passengers coming out; but unable to close the door for lack of communication. Finally; one lone young girl walked across the ramp to the airplane unaccompanied holding a red striped envelope. When she boarded the aircraft there was no paper work for an unaccompanied minor in the envelope. Additionally; she had no bracelet. I asked for paperwork; but the gate was unable to produce any. I asked how old she was and was told she was 10 years old. There were two other unaccompanied minors on the flight as well; I was later told (so as to not confuse the others with the much younger girl that they tried to board without paperwork). The Flight Attendant kept her on the plane until a gate agent was able to escort her back to the building. I was later told by a gate agent that it is partner Airline policy to board kids alone outside of the unaccompanied minor program. For example; I asked if it is OK to board a ten year old girl alone and without paperwork. She said that it is fine so long as the parents bought the ticket and did not want to pay the unaccompanied minor fee/participate in the program. Nonetheless; the unaccompanied minor in question had no paper work in her envelope so I had little choice but to leave her behind. She was clearly very young and had an unaccompanied minor envelope with her so I can only assume that she was indeed participating in the program. I felt that there were too many unanswered questions and too large of a liability for my air carrier and myself to accept the girl as an unaccompanied minor without any paperwork. I was actually able to get the engine started at this point in an effort to keep the passengers cool. However; this was short lived. I had to shut down the engine and open the cabin door to resolve the next issue as notes out the whisky hatch were not working. Nor could I get the ground crew to respond via headset even though I kept trying to signal to put on the headset. The next issue that we encountered was a cargo load report problem. The load slip showed all the bags as loaded into the aft bin. The weight and balance notified us of the out of balance situation. I requested that eight bags be moved from the rear to the front bin to satisfy the requirement. This is when I was told that all the bags were actually in the front bin; the rear bin was empty. I requested that a new cargo load slip be filled out properly. The old one was illegible and ripped into two pieces. A load slip was apparently not readily available as it took some ten minutes for a slip to make it to the aircraft. After getting a load slip we ran the checklist and were ready to start the aircraft. However; the ground crew had disappeared. There was literally nobody near the aircraft at all. Another flight had come in and we were abandoned. This is commonplace with this station's ground operations and has happened to me several times on different occasions. I called ops for a marshaller and waited another five minutes or so. Finally; we were able to start the engine and it appeared that we were ready to push the aircraft. However; I could not communicate with the ground crew over the headset. They could hear me; but I could not hear them. I was not able to adequately communicate with hand signals. It is unclear if the hand signals were not known; if bad habits were to blame or if I was just simply being ignored. I gave the brakes released signal and said brake is released cleared to capture at least twice without a response. At this point I decided that this was going down the road of a non-SOP operation and that because of the continued lack of communication over the course of all these problems that it would be best to request another headset. I was told that another headset was coming. This took about ten to fifteen minutes. When it also would not work I wondered if the aircraft itself was broken. I began to work out hand signals with a Ground Manager. However; decided that I could not leave at this point not knowing if there was a potential short in the aircraft wiring. Additionally; I did not feel completely comfortable working out hand signals via a one-way conversation on the headset. At the very minimum; I was going to need to shut the aircraft down to work out communication. I shut down the aircraft assuming that I would write up the airplane for the ground to flight deck communication system and use hand signals per the MEL. During the course of the conversation with the manager it became clear that it was not the aircraft communication system that was broken. She said that none of the headsets they have work with the Saabs. That they were given one headset some time ago. The headset had broken and was in the shop for repairs for the last two weeks. I asked her to be clear; 'so you have not had ground to flight deck communication with any Saab for at least the last two weeks.' She said that was the case since the headset broke. At this point we were at min fuel and were going to have to order more fuel. Given the difficulty with obtaining an aircart earlier; the rising temperature of the cabin and the fact that it had been heating up again for some time now... and facing the difficulties of trying to do this all over again I decided it was best to remove the passengers as I saw no way that this ramp could possibly get it together enough to coordinate getting the plane out with the passengers on board in a timely fashion. I am in no way trying to 'prove a point' with this (my third pushback report in a week). However; it just keeps happening to me. In this case I could not over come the lack of communication and continue the operation given the actions of the ground operation over the course of the turn as I had no assurance that the push would be performed correctly without verbal communication. Also; I ordered 200 LBS. more fuel for the next attempt to depart in anticipation of needing to cool the plane with the engine for lack of an aircart. It would give me a buffer if more of the same happened... I add this comment only as the Operations Manager asked why and I am not sure I gave him a clear answer as I was working to coordinate the next attempt to leave. I expected more issues and wanted to be prepared.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.