B757 captain reported being pressured after refusing an aircraft that had all annunciator lights on ...

Narrative:

Aircraft refused due to deferral of all local annunciator lights on IRU panel on overhead panel inop. After careful review of deferral and considering that the flight was an ETOPS flight it was deemed that the highest level of safety would be compromised. Operation without a functioning IRU panel appeared to be unsafe and especially incompatible with an overwater flight. Most notably; review of the QRH IRS fault irregular procedure requires the ability to be able to tell if a fault light is illuminated. It is understandable that just because an item is legally deferred; the aircraft may still not be safe to operate under all conditions. Furthermore; after being told by maintenance that a replacement IRU panel was not available and unsuccessful attempts were made to convince crew to take the aircraft with the inop IRU panel; a part suddenly became available and the repair was promptly made. Overall; trying to get the captain and crew to take this aircraft with an inop IRU panel is part of a consistent dangerous trend to persuade or coerce crews to fly aircraft that they are uncomfortable flying. The last several occasions that I have refused aircraft have resulted in overbearing calls from the operations manager or chief pilot which is tantamount to pilot pushing. Unwarranted and intimidating calls often result in unnecessary added stress on pilots who are already operating in a demanding environment.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B757 Captain reported being pressured after refusing an aircraft that had all annunciator lights on the IRU panel inoperative. The aircraft was accepted after repairs were made.

Narrative: Aircraft refused due to deferral of all local annunciator lights on IRU panel on overhead panel inop. After careful review of deferral and considering that the flight was an ETOPS flight it was deemed that the highest level of safety would be compromised. Operation without a functioning IRU panel appeared to be unsafe and especially incompatible with an overwater flight. Most notably; review of the QRH IRS FAULT irregular procedure requires the ability to be able to tell if a fault light is illuminated. It is understandable that just because an item is legally deferred; the aircraft may still not be safe to operate under all conditions. Furthermore; after being told by maintenance that a replacement IRU panel was not available and unsuccessful attempts were made to convince crew to take the aircraft with the inop IRU panel; a part suddenly became available and the repair was promptly made. Overall; trying to get the captain and crew to take this aircraft with an inop IRU panel is part of a consistent dangerous trend to persuade or coerce crews to fly aircraft that they are uncomfortable flying. The last several occasions that I have refused aircraft have resulted in overbearing calls from the Operations Manager or chief pilot which is tantamount to pilot pushing. Unwarranted and intimidating calls often result in unnecessary added stress on pilots who are already operating in a demanding environment.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1405792
Time
Date	201611
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B757 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Indicating and Warning - Flight & Navigation Systems
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Type 7998
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

B757 captain reported being pressured after refusing an aircraft that had all annunciator lights on the IRU panel inoperative. The aircraft was accepted after repairs were made.