An international B767 crew returning from a foreign airport received an EICAS left fuel filter alert...

Narrative:

At FL400 got EICAS message left engine fuel filter. QRH says to land at nearest suitable airport. Took several attempts to contact dispatch via the sat phone to get them in the loop. While discussing our status with dispatch and maintenance the sat phone dropped the call. At this time sat phone had no bars showing and we were unable to regain communication with occ using the sat phone. Communications were re-established using a HF phone patch. All parties agreed on the closest and most suitable airport about an hour away. Clearance was received through HF to divert. Arrived at the divert airport before sunrise and was advised that a customs gate would not be available for another hour. Arrived at the gate only to be held on the aircraft for over two hours. Customs kept telling us they were lacking some document that someone on our end was not sending. Document was finally received after about a two hour wait at the gate and passengers were deplaned.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An international B767 crew returning from a foreign airport received an EICAS L FUEL FILTER alert so they completed the QRH and after some communications difficulties with Dispatch and Maintenance diverted to an enroute domestic airport.

Narrative: At FL400 got EICAS message Left Engine Fuel Filter. QRH says to land at nearest suitable airport. Took several attempts to contact Dispatch via the SAT phone to get them in the loop. While discussing our status with Dispatch and Maintenance the SAT phone dropped the call. At this time SAT phone had no bars showing and we were unable to regain communication with OCC using the SAT phone. Communications were re-established using a HF phone patch. All parties agreed on the closest and most suitable airport about an hour away. Clearance was received through HF to divert. Arrived at the divert airport before sunrise and was advised that a Customs gate would not be available for another hour. Arrived at the gate only to be held on the aircraft for over two hours. Customs kept telling us they were lacking some document that someone on our end was not sending. Document was finally received after about a two hour wait at the gate and passengers were deplaned.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1124997
Time
Date	201310
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B767 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Fuel
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

An international B767 crew returning from a foreign airport received an EICAS left fuel filter alert so they completed the QRH and after some communications difficulties with dispatch and maintenance diverted to an enroute domestic airport.