Narrative:

The crew and I arrived for a flight at xa:15. While conducting preflight duties I noticed an abnormal popping in the control yoke and an abnormal resistance to the control yoke being moved to the aft position. I called dispatch and asked to be connected with maintenance control. I identified the problem to maintenance control and created a logbook entry for the discrepancy. Maintenance control indicated mechanics would have to travel to work on the problem. A few minutes later I received a call from a crew scheduler informing me the aircraft was broke and to stay at the hotel. I informed him that I was actually still in the aircraft and I had just notified maintenance control about the aircraft discrepancy. The scheduler then told me and the crew to return to the hotel. He informed me the aircraft had an estimated departure time seven hours later. We arrived at the hotel at approximately at xc:05 EST. An hour and a half later; I was awoken from my sleep from a phone call from crew scheduling. He said the flight was delayed until xn:30; a little over thirteen hours after our original flight. We had a xn:00 show time; and he was putting us into rest at this time. Unaware of the clock time; I asked him what time was he putting us into rest; he responded 'xd:30'. We later arrived at the airport for the xn:00 show time. I spoke with maintenance personnel who described the aircraft yoke problem to me and showed me photographs of the problem. The problem was identified to be an autopilot servo motor cable that was rubbing against a servo motor cable guard. The pictures indicated the cable had worn half way through the cable guard. After the maintenance personnel had discussions with maintenance control on possible remedies; it was determined that a ferry permit would be issued for the aircraft without any repairs being made for a flight to a maintenance base. Not being familiar with a situation of this nature to make an appropriate decision; I decided to contact my chief pilot's office. At xp:15; I spoke with assistant chief pilot and informed him of the situation to the best of my recollection. He advised me that since it was a flight control issue he would leave the decision to me and would support the decision I made. After the discussion with the scheduler; I decided to not fly the aircraft back to the maintenance base. I decided to go with my initial decision earlier in the day of refusing to fly the aircraft because of the mechanical discrepancy. At xp:38; I contacted crew scheduling and I informed the scheduler that I was not going to be flying the aircraft because of the maintenance discrepancy. The scheduler then conferred with a manager and told me that we would be returning to the hotel and deadheading out on the first flight in the morning; 24 hours after our original departure time. When I arrived at the hotel; I used my personal computer to log into our online scheduling system. My schedule indicated an error message stating 'sequence failed continuity'. I decide to go to sleep and to check the schedule in the morning before departing the hotel for the deadhead flight. At xq:39; sixteen hours after we checked in that morning; a crew scheduler awoke me with a phone call. The scheduler informed me that we were deadheading the crew out on the same flight tomorrow that we were scheduled for today. The scheduler asked me to inform the rest of the crew of the deadhead flight. I informed the scheduler; that another scheduler had already indicated we would be deadheading on that flight when we spoke earlier. We showed up on time and deadheaded on the flight. During the flight; the crew relayed a message to me indicating I was scheduled to do a flight upon arrival. Our flight had to divert for a fuel stop. At the divert airport; I used my personal computer to check our scheduling system on line once again. At this time I noticed my schedule had been changed. I couldn't determine any of my rest periods by using the online scheduling system. It showed 22:35 hours of rest; which I knew was not correct. Upon arrival at the crew base I used my cell phone call log to construct a timeline of the calls I made for that day. I determined the rest period I was given during the mid day was only 8.5 hours long instead of the 9.5 hours I had originally understood it to be. This was due to the crew scheduler telling me a central standard time when in fact it was eastern standard time; an hour earlier. I then also determined I was given a rest period of approximately 8 hours 55 minutes that evening. I then referred to the flight manual for clarification on the required rest and noted the second rest should have been a compensatory rest of 10 hours since the first rest was less than 9 hours. I then contacted crew scheduling and informed them that I was uncertain of my rest times and asked if I was given an appropriate rest. I explained to the crew scheduler the sequence of events that occurred. She spoke with a manager and told me if I had any questions I needed to speak with the chief pilot's office. I did so and conducted no flying for the remainder of the day.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An EMB145 Captain described a series of Crew Scheduling events covering about a 26 hours period following the discovery of a damaged Autopilot Control Cable which grounded the aircraft. Legal crew rest became an issue.

Narrative: The crew and I arrived for a flight at XA:15. While conducting preflight duties I noticed an abnormal popping in the control yoke and an abnormal resistance to the control yoke being moved to the aft position. I called Dispatch and asked to be connected with Maintenance Control. I identified the problem to Maintenance Control and created a logbook entry for the discrepancy. Maintenance Control indicated mechanics would have to travel to work on the problem. A few minutes later I received a call from a Crew Scheduler informing me the aircraft was broke and to stay at the hotel. I informed him that I was actually still in the aircraft and I had just notified Maintenance Control about the aircraft discrepancy. The Scheduler then told me and the crew to return to the hotel. He informed me the aircraft had an estimated departure time seven hours later. We arrived at the hotel at approximately at XC:05 EST. An hour and a half later; I was awoken from my sleep from a phone call from Crew Scheduling. He said the flight was delayed until XN:30; a little over thirteen hours after our original flight. We had a XN:00 show time; and he was putting us into rest at this time. Unaware of the clock time; I asked him what time was he putting us into rest; he responded 'XD:30'. We later arrived at the airport for the XN:00 show time. I spoke with maintenance personnel who described the aircraft yoke problem to me and showed me photographs of the problem. The problem was identified to be an Autopilot Servo Motor Cable that was rubbing against a Servo Motor Cable Guard. The pictures indicated the cable had worn half way through the Cable Guard. After the maintenance personnel had discussions with Maintenance Control on possible remedies; it was determined that a ferry permit would be issued for the aircraft without any repairs being made for a flight to a maintenance base. Not being familiar with a situation of this nature to make an appropriate decision; I decided to contact my Chief Pilot's Office. At XP:15; I spoke with Assistant Chief Pilot and informed him of the situation to the best of my recollection. He advised me that since it was a Flight Control Issue he would leave the decision to me and would support the decision I made. After the discussion with the Scheduler; I decided to not fly the aircraft back to the maintenance base. I decided to go with my initial decision earlier in the day of refusing to fly the aircraft because of the mechanical discrepancy. At XP:38; I contacted Crew Scheduling and I informed the Scheduler that I was not going to be flying the aircraft because of the maintenance discrepancy. The Scheduler then conferred with a manager and told me that we would be returning to the hotel and deadheading out on the first flight in the morning; 24 hours after our original departure time. When I arrived at the hotel; I used my personal computer to log into our online scheduling system. My schedule indicated an error message stating 'SEQUENCE FAILED CONTINUITY'. I decide to go to sleep and to check the schedule in the morning before departing the hotel for the deadhead flight. At XQ:39; sixteen hours after we checked in that morning; a Crew Scheduler awoke me with a phone call. The Scheduler informed me that we were deadheading the crew out on the same flight tomorrow that we were scheduled for today. The Scheduler asked me to inform the rest of the crew of the deadhead flight. I informed the Scheduler; that another Scheduler had already indicated we would be deadheading on that flight when we spoke earlier. We showed up on time and deadheaded on the flight. During the flight; the crew relayed a message to me indicating I was scheduled to do a flight upon arrival. Our flight had to divert for a fuel stop. At the divert airport; I used my personal computer to check our scheduling system on line once again. At this time I noticed my schedule had been changed. I couldn't determine any of my rest periods by using the online scheduling system. It showed 22:35 hours of rest; which I knew was not correct. Upon arrival at the crew base I used my cell phone call log to construct a timeline of the calls I made for that day. I determined the rest period I was given during the mid day was only 8.5 hours long instead of the 9.5 hours I had originally understood it to be. This was due to the crew scheduler telling me a Central Standard Time when in fact it was Eastern Standard Time; an hour earlier. I then also determined I was given a rest period of approximately 8 hours 55 minutes that evening. I then referred to the flight manual for clarification on the required rest and noted the second rest should have been a compensatory rest of 10 hours since the first rest was less than 9 hours. I then contacted Crew Scheduling and informed them that I was uncertain of my rest times and asked if I was given an appropriate rest. I explained to the crew scheduler the sequence of events that occurred. She spoke with a manager and told me if I had any questions I needed to speak with the Chief Pilot's Office. I did so and conducted no flying for the remainder of the day.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.