Commercial Fixed Wing
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Multiengine
Physiological - Other
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor
General Flight Cancelled / Delayed; General Maintenance Action
Aircraft
During boarding; on aircraft (tail); a strong odor was noticed in the flight deck; reminiscent of vaporized oil while the APU bleed was selected. I noticed and told the Captain and as the smell increased in intensity; I walked off the aircraft due to feeling sick from the odor. I walked to the jet bridge and asked the gate agents and they confirmed the smell and that it was intense chemical odor. After; I asked the flight attendants and they confirmed it was quite noticeable throughout the entire cabin and one remarking that it smelled all the way to the aft galley. We decided to shut the air system off; however; due to the temperature it was jointly decided to deplane the aircraft and troubleshoot the bleed system. [Maintenance] came to the aircraft and troubleshooted the APU and then we decided to try and isolate the problem and made an attempt to see if the engine(s) selected with the packs would help. After starting an engine; we selected the packs without APU bleed; but still had the strong odor return to the aircraft. The Captain developed a headache; however; I began to feel better after the odor was vacated as of a couple hours later. We kept both flight deck windows open at this point forward to mitigate any more exposure to the chemical odor and to help clear the air further. Aircraft was swapped and we continued to our destination exercising discretion per 117. Odor was reminiscent of burning smell inside the engine; smelling of a vaporized solvent.
Air carrier First Officer reported strong odor in the cabin that was confirmed by flight attendants and the Captain. Maintenance action resulted in aircraft swap.