Date: 201310
Local time of day: 0601-1200
Location: ZZZ.Airport, US
Light: Daylight
Aircraft: EMB ERJ 145 ER/LR
Operator: Air Carrier
Operating under: Part 121
Flight plan: IFR
Mission: Passenger
Flight phase: Parked
Reporter organization: Air Carrier
Reporter function: First Officer; Pilot Not Flying
Reporter qualification: Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Human factors: Communication Breakdown; Other / Unknown
Second reporter function: Captain; Pilot Flying
Anomaly: Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Detector: Person Flight Crew
When detected: Aircraft In Service At Gate
Result: General Maintenance Action; General Police / Security Involved
Contributing factors: Human Factors
Primary problem: Human Factors

Narrative: After doing my pre-flight; I had noticed we had over 7;500 pounds of fuel.  I knew we had a pack MEL'd so I figured we had extra fuel for the lower altitude.  After seeing the paperwork I noticed that we were too heavy on fuel.  I believe the release called for 6;400 Gate Fuel.  While continuing working I noticed the fuel door open.  Shortly after that the fueler came up the cockpit and asked if I knew about this.  I said yes I recognized this and he went on his way.  We had not boarded yet due to Maintenance fixing a LAV door.  When the Captain came back from getting the paperwork I had told him about the LAV door and the fuel.  I believe sometime after we were done boarding we noticed an EICAS message of APU fuel low pressure and E2 fuel low pressure.  I did not notice at the time the fuel door had been reopened.  After these messages appeared we noticed the fuel pumps switching to different pumps; and alternating.  The Captain started to call Maintenance when we noticed our fuel quantity was also depleting.  I then looked out the window and realized there was a fuel truck defueling us.  I quickly jumped out of the plane and told the fueler to stop.  At which point he dropped the trigger on to the ground.  I asked him what he was doing and he told me defueling.  I asked him who told him to do this; to which he went back to his truck and showed me the order form.  I then asked him to find out who ordered this; and went back up to the cockpit.  I told the Captain what happened and he told me Maintenance was on their way.  Sometime later; someone showed up asking about the fuel.  This was a different person then the fueler I spoke to; and I assumed it was a Supervisor.  The Captain had told him what had happened and that this was a Maintenance issue and they had no authority to do this.  This discussion escalated and the Captain told the man to get off the plane.  The man then continued the discussion; at which time the Captain told him again to get off the plane.  This then went back and forth and the man did not leave the cockpit till the Captain called Operations and asked them to send the police.  Maintenance showed up; then the police showed up finally.  The Captain went on the jet bridge to discuss with the police the incident.  After a while we finally got a fueler back and Maintenance stayed to make sure we were refueled properly with no problems.  The fuel imbalance was fixed and we finally left.  I am still unsure who ordered them to defuel us. Fuel imbalance; APU fuel starvation; possible fuel pump damage all due to lack of communication.


Second narrative: Prior to the crew arriving the aircraft was overfueld by 1;200 lbs. During the boarding of the aircraft a de-fuel truck hooked up to the aircraft while we had passengers onboard without authorization from the crew; Dispatch or Company Operations. We quickly determined what was going on and the First officer went out to the fueler and told him to stop immediately. Shortly after the First Officer returned a Fueling Supervisor came into the flight deck and asked what was going on. At that point we noticed that the de-fueling was re-initiated by the fueler outside. The Supervisor told us that they; 'had to de-fuel the aircraft due to having a ticket to do so.' At this point I am trying to convince the Supervisor to stop the defueling; he would not. I told him that it was not optional again and to stop the defueling. The Supervisor is now standing in the flight deck of the aircraft hovering over the pedestal trying to show me the ticket; and was being increasingly forceful with his intentions to defuel the aircraft. I asked him to leave the flight deck at this point as he was distracting us from getting assistance from Ops. He stayed in the flight deck and interrupted the radio call to Ops; I am now telling him to leave; and his response was; 'You cannot tell me to stop or leave.'  After that comment and the tone of voice he used I told him to get off the aircraft three times and the 4th time I used an expletive with a raised voice and he then only left when I requested the airport police department to come to our aircraft. After hearing that radio call to Ops the Supervisor ran out of the aircraft; down to the ramp (the de-fueling stopped at this point) and left with the de-fuel truck. This information was then relayed to the airport police department; the Hub Coordinator; and Dispatch. The airport police department located the Supervisor; and one of the officers relayed this information; 'That due to the attitude and information that Supervisor provided them they involved the FBI due to him not following instructions from the flight crew to leave the flight deck.' I was provided with case report number and they asked if I would follow up with them; which I told them I would. The reason for me asking and then demanding the Fueling Supervisor to leave the flight deck was his inability to follow directions to stop defuling the aircraft; and raising his voice to the point of being overheard by passengers; and creating an unsafe situation with the continued unauthorized de-fueling of the aircraft with a full load of passengers onboard. The entire time the Fueling Supervisor was on board and involved with this situation; he made it dramatically worse and created a very high risk environment by not following and overriding flight crew instructionsThe fueling contractors must not start de-fueling an aircraft without coordination with the flight crew. I really do not know how to prevent the Fueling Supervisor from doing what he did. As far as my performance with this event; I believe I took the appropriate actions necessary to get the Fueling Supervisor to leave the flight deck of the aircraft.


Synopsis: EMB-145 flight crew notes that their aircraft has been over fueled. After passenger boarding it is noticed that the fueling door is open and the aircraft is being defueled without coordinating with the flight crew. An altercation develops between the Captain and the Fueling Supervisor and the police are summoned.