Narrative:

All seats on board were occupied; plus a jumpseater. After sending the weight and balance via ACARS; the numbers returned stating a need for 250 pounds of ballast due to being 2.1% out of forward cg limit. I pointed this out to the captain who said 'nah; we don't need ballast. Put the number in there and resend it'. I stated my concern for that practice then reiterated with 'are you sure you don't want ballast?' to which the captain responded 'I'm sure'. I pressed him again and he says 'I'm positive'. He entered the 250 into the ballast field and resent the weight and balance computation. The jumpseater; a captain for another airline on a different aircraft; did not voice any concern at all. I regretfully went along with the captain's decision; despite my protest; and we continued to [destination] without incident. Had an incident or accident happened along the way; any investigation would have discovered no extra ballast on board the aircraft and while just about every captain at my airline would say 'it's not your certificate on the line; it's mine'; I know the next question an inspector would ask is 'where was the first officer?' I should have spoken again with this concern and been more assertive about a bad practice. My reluctance to force the action by simply telling the ramp crew we needed it was likely amplified by the fact another captain was on board; my mental submission to an idea of 250 pounds in a 46;000 pound aircraft being a potential 'rounding error'; as well as the fear many fos have in not wanting to upset the ca and being labeled as 'difficult' or 'that guy'. I had briefed 2 legs previous that I was there to help and 'keep us out of trouble'; but with my shortness of action; I could have done almost the opposite and contributed to said trouble.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: EMB-145 First Officer reported departing; at the direction of the Captain; without required ballast to correct a CG problem.

Narrative: All seats on board were occupied; plus a jumpseater. After sending the weight and balance via ACARS; the numbers returned stating a need for 250 LBS of ballast due to being 2.1% out of forward CG limit. I pointed this out to the captain who said 'nah; we don't need ballast. Put the number in there and resend it'. I stated my concern for that practice then reiterated with 'are you sure you don't want ballast?' to which the captain responded 'I'm sure'. I pressed him again and he says 'I'm positive'. He entered the 250 into the ballast field and resent the Weight and Balance computation. The jumpseater; a captain for another airline on a different aircraft; did not voice any concern at all. I regretfully went along with the captain's decision; despite my protest; and we continued to [destination] without incident. Had an incident or accident happened along the way; any investigation would have discovered no extra ballast on board the aircraft and while just about every captain at my airline would say 'it's not your certificate on the line; it's mine'; I know the next question an inspector would ask is 'where was the First Officer?' I should have spoken again with this concern and been more assertive about a bad practice. My reluctance to force the action by simply telling the ramp crew we needed it was likely amplified by the fact another captain was on board; my mental submission to an idea of 250 LBS in a 46;000 LB aircraft being a potential 'rounding error'; as well as the fear many FOs have in not wanting to upset the CA and being labeled as 'difficult' or 'that guy'. I had briefed 2 legs previous that I was there to help and 'keep us out of trouble'; but with my shortness of action; I could have done almost the opposite and contributed to said trouble.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.