B737 crew experiences a fuel imbalance upon leveling off at FL390 while feeding both engines from the center tank; with the left tank being low. With the cross feed open and the left tank pumps off the imbalance continues to increase. Flight returns to departure airport.

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Attributes
ACN	1109167
Time
Date	201308
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Fuel Storage System
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 220 Flight Crew Total 17000 Flight Crew Type 10000
Person 2
Function	First Officer Pilot Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 500 Flight Crew Total 11000 Flight Crew Type 5600
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue

Narrative:

Fuel imbalance at 390; center tank feeding engines; rapid fuel loss in left tank. Rapid fuel loss only slowed down when the left thrust lever brought to idle. We returned to our departure airport.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 crew experiences a fuel imbalance upon leveling off at FL390 while feeding both engines from the center tank; with the left tank being low. With the cross feed open and the left tank pumps off the imbalance continues to increase. Flight returns to departure airport.

Narrative: Fuel imbalance at 390; center tank feeding engines; rapid fuel loss in left tank. Rapid fuel loss only slowed down when the left thrust lever brought to idle. We returned to our departure airport.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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.