Station maintenance wanted to dispatch an A319 with a chronic problem of air conditioning odors beli...

Narrative:

The APU was started about 20 minutes before departure and the air conditioning systems were fed bleed air from the APU air source. The entire cabin was immediately filled with a odor of 'dirty laundry'. Passengers began complaining of odor and 'instant headaches'. Maintenance was called and immediately determined that the aircraft would not be permitted to continue since the same write up had occurred the day prior. Maintenance control told mechanic that the ship was grounded; while the tower maintenance coordinator on site told the mechanics to essentially 'pencil-whip' it back into service and let destination maintenance deal with it; despite the directive of maintenance control.as the captain I advised station maintenance that we would not take the aircraft and another would have to be used for the flight. Another aircraft was assigned and flight was completed late but safely.maintenance had the same write up occur the day before and we've been warned about the danger associated with the 'dirty laundry' odor being associated with oil getting soaked into the non-metallic portions of the aircraft's ductwork; then becoming vaporized with high pack temperatures. These vapors are known to make crews and passengers sick; possibly due to oil additive tcp.do the job right the first time.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Station Maintenance wanted to dispatch an A319 with a chronic problem of air conditioning odors believed to be associated with oil in the hight temperature sections of the AC ducting. The Captain refused the aircraft.

Narrative: The APU was started about 20 minutes before departure and the air conditioning systems were fed bleed air from the APU air source. The entire cabin was immediately filled with a odor of 'dirty laundry'. Passengers began complaining of odor and 'instant headaches'. Maintenance was called and immediately determined that the aircraft would not be permitted to continue since the same write up had occurred the day prior. Maintenance Control told mechanic that the ship was grounded; while the Tower Maintenance Coordinator on site told the mechanics to essentially 'pencil-whip' it back into service and let destination maintenance deal with it; despite the directive of Maintenance Control.As the Captain I advised Station Maintenance that we would not take the aircraft and another would have to be used for the flight. Another aircraft was assigned and flight was completed late but safely.Maintenance had the same write up occur the day before and we've been warned about the danger associated with the 'dirty laundry' odor being associated with oil getting soaked into the non-metallic portions of the aircraft's ductwork; then becoming vaporized with high pack temperatures. These vapors are known to make crews and passengers sick; possibly due to oil additive TCP.Do the job right the first time.

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.

Attributes
ACN	921772
Time
Date	201012
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A319
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Air Conditioning Distribution System
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Illness Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor

Station maintenance wanted to dispatch an A319 with a chronic problem of air conditioning odors believed to be associated with oil in the hight temperature sections of the AC ducting. The captain refused the aircraft.