Commercial Fixed Wing
Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 121
Communication Breakdown
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
Flight Crew Returned To Gate; General Flight Cancelled / Delayed; General Work Refused
Weather; Procedure
After pushing back from the gate the aircraft was deiced using Type 1 fluid to remove excessive ice buildup.  The aircraft had been RON for nearly 10 hours and spent most of its time exposed to FZRA (freezing rain) and -FZRA.  The deice crew completed spraying/decontaminating the aircraft and called 'aircraft deicing complete'.  At this point; I still could not even see out of the co-pilots number 3 window due to excessive ice buildup.  This made the Captain and I suspicious (identified a threat) and asked the ground crew to spray the window and to be sure that they observed a clean airplane.  They resprayed and said the aircraft was clean.  To be sure; I performed a 'wing check' prior to engine start and noticed the wings were completely saturated with at least a quarter inch of ice.  We called them back and asked for a complete re-do explaining how difficult it may be to remove the ice.  They completed a second total deice and stated the aircraft was clean.  We elected to perform another 'wing check' and noticed that nothing had changed.  In fact; on one side of the aircraft we were unable to view the wing from any of the passenger windows due to ice buildup.  At this point neither one of us felt confident in the aircraft's condition and the Captain elected to return to the gate to perform both a walk around as well as conference with all ground personnel.  His communication was effective.  As a note; during the walk around noticed icicles hanging from the leading edges and the upper wing surface was completely saturated with ice.  We pushed a 3rd time; deiced by a different crew member; performed a 'wing check' and were satisfied the wings and control surfaces were clear.  Departed nearly 4 hours late.  An unsuspecting crew could have very easily departed with an aircraft completely covered in ice.
Air carrier First Officer reported failure of deicing crew to properly deice aircraft; resulted in multiple efforts to get deiced