EMB ERJ 145 ER/LR
Fatigue; Other / Unknown
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR
Flight Crew Returned To Gate; General Maintenance Action
Aircraft; Company Policy; Human Factors; Weather
I was scheduled to do a BOS turn as the last turn of a 16 hour four day trip. This trip consisted mostly of sitting around airports which is fatiguing for pilots. I was scheduled for a four hour sit in Cleveland prior to the last turn. A late inbound aircraft coupled with poor weather and ATC delays lengthen that sit to 6 hours. At the end of this frustrating; fatiguing trip; this sit brought me to complete exhaustion. I contemplated calling out fatigued for the turn at about 5 hours into the sit but was nervous about it since I had never called in fatigued before. I wanted to complete my job. We ended up leaving with 40 minutes to spare before timing out that day. We blocked out of BOS with 11 minutes of legality. After the push back our APU failed while attempting to start engine 2. After a few failed attempts; pulling back into the gate; calling maintenance; getting an MEL; coordination with ops and finding an air start cart; we had exceeded our 13 hour duty day. My captain joined our pairing halfway through the trip and was not as exhausted as I was. I explained I was not fit to fly and called scheduling. I told the scheduler I was timing out and denying an extension. She then transferred me to a supervisor who pressured me into completing the flight. She said something about the MEL already being taken care of and we are ready to go. She told me I was wasting time and did not give me a chance to explain how tired I was and unfit to fly. I ended up working the flight; and if not for the checklist; we would have ended up in an undesired aircraft state. The biggest threat was outside pressure to complete this flight. I felt pressure from my crew who wanted to finish; pressure from operations since we were boarded up; and pressure from the scheduler that I could not overcome. I did not want to inconvenience 50 passengers and my crew. I did everything I could to try to make the flight work. When it came down to decision-making time; I put the safety of those passengers and my responsibility to them as my priority. My decision was to not work this flight because I was not fit to complete it. I want to know that when I make the decision that I am too fatigued to fly; my crew; my scheduler and my company will back me up for the safety of this operation as a whole. Looking back on this now; I feel I did not make the best decision in letting anyone pressure me into working this flight.
EMB145 First Officer reports being coerced into extending her duty day by a scheduling supervisor and pressure from other crew members; despite her better judgment.