A Captain reports about his decision to refuse a B757-200 due to finding a hole in the #2 engine inlet fan blade rub strip that he could put his finger all the way down into. The exposed hole was previously repaired; but the patching material had cracks emanating from the hole; material was breaking away and could be lifted by his finger.

Narrative

First flight of the day for this B757-200 aircraft. After the preflight walk around; the First Officer informed me of a hole in the rub strip; at the 6 o'clock position in the right engine. The hole was approximately 1 inch in diameter. Maintenance was called and informed. As Captain; I wanted to inspect this damage myself. It was obvious that at some point this area had been repaired before; however it looked like the repaired area had broken away exposing this 1 inch hole. There were numerous cracks emanating from the hole that extended out about another inch. Also; there was cracked material surrounding the hole. I could put my finger in the hole and lift the material up. This indicated that the material around the hole was very weak which made for the possibility of this hole enlarging during engine run on the ground or in-flight. A Maintenance Supervisor had arrived at the aircraft to inspect the area. He pulled some small portable stairs to the right engine inlet so that he and I could climb into the engine inlet to get a better look at the damaged area. We both inspected the damage; the Supervisor informed me that the damaged area (was) within operation specifications. As Captain; I; on the other hand; felt that this was disaster waiting to happen. It was clear to me; with the cracks emanating from this hole; that this area of the rub strip was very weak. At any time this area could enlarge and the pieces that broke off would be ingested by the engine. My decision was to refuse the aircraft until the repair was made. I made a Write-up entry into the aircraft logbook stating the damage. I returned to the gate area and informed the gate agent of my decision and to call to look for another aircraft. I also called Dispatch and informed them of the problem and to start looking for another aircraft. I also called the Chief Pilot on duty and informed him of the situation as well. The passengers had boarded the aircraft already so I had returned to the aircraft and made a Public Announcement (PA); to inform the passengers of the situation. Once a new aircraft was found the passengers were deplaned. Later; I was informed by my First Officer that the Maintenance Supervisor had signed off the logbook write-up; stating that the damage was within limits. A new aircraft was found and we departed 3+ hours after our scheduled departure time.