Narrative:

My crew and I were already sitting on a scheduled layover for 4+30 and later found out our flight would be delayed further due to a reserve pilot flying in to serve as first officer. The new departure time put us at around 5+10 sitting. We were finally aboard the airplane when the gate agent informed us that we were to swap to another aircraft at a different gate. As I was leaving the jetway I was met by an FAA inspector who told me about issue on our newly assigned aircraft. I was informed that the previous crew had issues with an MEL which had been ambiguously written up and subsequently deferred earlier in the day. It said that while on arrival both FMS 'took a dump' and lost their flight plan. The flight crew then had problems re-inputting their route. On the ground they had their FMS navigation database deferred.after hearing this from the FAA inspector and finding out that the previous crew had refused to accept the aircraft; I decided to investigate further. As I boarded the aircraft I spoke with a mechanic who was re-deferring the FMS. To my surprise both FMS can be deferred for up to 10 days. I carefully reviewed the crew operating procedure listed in the MEL and noted that we can fly the airplane using 'raw data' and navigating via ground-based navaids; along with a number of other non-standard procedures. I have always flown with the mantra to not do anything 'dumb; dangerous; or different'; and this definitely fell in the different and somewhat dumb categories. I was at the 11.5 hour duty mark and would be at 13+ hours upon completion of this flight. After our delay waiting on a first officer we were now pushing over 5+30 hours sitting prior to takeoff. Plus; we had thunderstorms along our route of flight. I elected to refuse the aircraft until repairs could be made because; in my professional opinion; it was appropriate to do so for the safety of my passengers and crew. I contacted our chief pilot to inform him of my decision and he reluctantly accepted my decision stating that he just felt sorry for the passengers and lost business. He also stated that he had flown most of his career in aircraft that used ground-based navigation and wondered what our problem with doing so was. I stated to him that I was uncomfortable operating in this environment with such degraded capabilities. I explained as above that it was the last flight of a long day and it was something we were not accustomed to. He stated the company had had to cancel a flight recently because a captain refused the aircraft due to a broken headrest. I didn't see how that compared to my situation. I stood my ground and the flight was eventually canceled. I'm not sure what could change the outcome of this situation. I have been employed at this company for a decade and have never refused an aircraft until today. I do my very best to provide my passengers and crew the very best flight I can every time I 'strap in'. I stand behind my decision and do feel sorry for our passengers of this canceled flight; but I believe if I brought this situation to a vote by the passengers; they would not want to fly either. I did feel somewhat pressured to accept this flight and made to feel like less of a pilot because I chose to not fly 'raw data'; but still feel that this was warranted and once again stand behind my decision. I would also like to note that when the previous crew refused the flight; noting they had FAA on board; they were not questioned and immediately swapped to our aircraft.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An ERJ-175 Captain refused to accept an aircraft with both FMS systems deferred.

Narrative: My crew and I were already sitting on a scheduled layover for 4+30 and later found out our flight would be delayed further due to a reserve pilot flying in to serve as First Officer. The new departure time put us at around 5+10 sitting. We were finally aboard the airplane when the gate agent informed us that we were to swap to another aircraft at a different gate. As I was leaving the jetway I was met by an FAA inspector who told me about issue on our newly assigned aircraft. I was informed that the previous crew had issues with an MEL which had been ambiguously written up and subsequently deferred earlier in the day. It said that while on arrival both FMS 'took a dump' and lost their flight plan. The flight crew then had problems re-inputting their route. On the ground they had their FMS Navigation Database deferred.After hearing this from the FAA inspector and finding out that the previous crew had refused to accept the aircraft; I decided to investigate further. As I boarded the aircraft I spoke with a mechanic who was re-deferring the FMS. To my surprise both FMS can be deferred for up to 10 days. I carefully reviewed the crew operating procedure listed in the MEL and noted that we can fly the airplane using 'raw data' and navigating via ground-based NAVAIDs; along with a number of other non-standard procedures. I have always flown with the mantra to not do anything 'dumb; dangerous; or different'; and this definitely fell in the different and somewhat dumb categories. I was at the 11.5 hour duty mark and would be at 13+ hours upon completion of this flight. After our delay waiting on a First Officer we were now pushing over 5+30 hours sitting prior to takeoff. Plus; we had thunderstorms along our route of flight. I elected to refuse the aircraft until repairs could be made because; in my professional opinion; it was appropriate to do so for the safety of my passengers and crew. I contacted our Chief Pilot to inform him of my decision and he reluctantly accepted my decision stating that he just felt sorry for the passengers and lost business. He also stated that he had flown most of his career in aircraft that used ground-based navigation and wondered what our problem with doing so was. I stated to him that I was uncomfortable operating in this environment with such degraded capabilities. I explained as above that it was the last flight of a long day and it was something we were not accustomed to. He stated the company had had to cancel a flight recently because a Captain refused the aircraft due to a broken headrest. I didn't see how that compared to my situation. I stood my ground and the flight was eventually canceled. I'm not sure what could change the outcome of this situation. I have been employed at this company for a decade and have never refused an aircraft until today. I do my very best to provide my passengers and crew the very best flight I can every time I 'strap in'. I stand behind my decision and do feel sorry for our passengers of this canceled flight; but I believe if I brought this situation to a vote by the passengers; they would not want to fly either. I did feel somewhat pressured to accept this flight and made to feel like less of a pilot because I chose to not fly 'raw data'; but still feel that this was warranted and once again stand behind my decision. I would also like to note that when the previous crew refused the flight; noting they had FAA on board; they were not questioned and immediately swapped to our aircraft.

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.