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B737 flight crew was dispatched with center tank fuel quantity indication inoperative and discusses procedure with fueler. Fueler was to pump known quantity of fuel into center tank but captain discovered airborne that more that twice the requested fuel was boarded resulting in an overweight landing at their destination.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 844408 |
| Time | |
| Date | 200907 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1801-2400 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | SEA.Airport |
| State Reference | WA |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | B737-300 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Parked |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | Fuel Quantity-Pressure Indication |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Captain |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 126 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural FAR Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural Weight And Balance |
Narrative:
To comply with the MEL for a center fuel quantity gauge inoperative; the center tank had to be drained and then refueled with a known quantity. I met with the fuel supervisor and had him go over how he would perform the defueling and refueling procedure as well as his calculation of the number of gallons of fuel required. I was satisfied with his explanation of procedures and agreed with his gallons to pounds calculations. After the fueling procedures were completed we departed. It became apparent a problem existed when we had burned more fuel out of the center tank than should have been in there. It was eventually determined that we were over-fueled by more than twice the required fuel load. We could not determine we had been over-fueled (inop fuel quantity gauge) until we burned the fuel by adding up the fuel used and adding that to the fuel in the wing tanks. After all fuel was used from the center tank; we could determine how much we were over-fueled and then were able to determine we had departed overweight. Using captain's emergency authority we performed an overweight landing at destination due to severe weather.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: B737 flight crew was dispatched with center tank fuel quantity indication inoperative and discusses procedure with fueler. Fueler was to pump known quantity of fuel into center tank but Captain discovered airborne that more that twice the requested fuel was boarded resulting in an overweight landing at their destination.
Narrative: To comply with the MEL for a center fuel quantity gauge inoperative; the center tank had to be drained and then refueled with a known quantity. I met with the Fuel Supervisor and had him go over how he would perform the defueling and refueling procedure as well as his calculation of the number of gallons of fuel required. I was satisfied with his explanation of procedures and agreed with his gallons to pounds calculations. After the fueling procedures were completed we departed. It became apparent a problem existed when we had burned more fuel out of the center tank than should have been in there. It was eventually determined that we were over-fueled by more than twice the required fuel load. We could not determine we had been over-fueled (inop fuel quantity gauge) until we burned the fuel by adding up the fuel used and adding that to the fuel in the wing tanks. After all fuel was used from the center tank; we could determine how much we were over-fueled and then were able to determine we had departed overweight. Using Captain's emergency authority we performed an overweight landing at destination due to severe weather.
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.