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Originally Posted by DaddyOD
Then when they attempted to start the engines the power abruptly failed. They announced (in broken English like we were in a third world country) that they were "sorry about the 'bad' problems on the other planes..." and that they "did not power the plane properly", inferring they did not know what they were doing.
They tried to say that it was something to do with the air conditioning and they should have been connected to the AC power when they tried to start the engines.
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The issue would be with the APU which supplies power and air conditioning to the aircraft on the ground if they don't use the ground power and external A/C. The APU also provides air to start the engines. In a jet engine, air is pumped in to get them to start spinning. They don't hit the fuel until the engines are about 1/2 to 2/3 idle RPM. If the APU is not functioning (which happens quite bit) then they use an Air Start. It provides the air pressure to start the engine. If the power suddenly went out, it's because one of the ground crew cut the ground power too soon - either by accident or he/she got stupid.
Here's the part where I'm going to call BS to the rest of your story.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaddyOD
To our dismay and trepidation we could smell smoke in the cabin. We also saw several fire trucks with their lights on. Again no explanation from the flight crew.
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Sorry, but there is no possible way that the tower would have let the plane take off if the fire trucks had to be out there like that. Also, the smell of smoke---that would be jet exhaust from other aircraft. You can't tell me that in 37 years of flying you've never smelled that before. The plane is not pressurized on the ground.