Narrative:

Flight required 21;100 pounds fuel for dispatch; with 21;300 pounds on board (16.9 in wings/4.4 in center tank). On climb; after 10;000 ft; both center tank pumps activated. After observing low pressure fuel enunciators illuminate; the lights continued to remain on with no indication that fuel was being pumped. The switches were recycled with the same result. All fuel system circuit breakers were checked and the QRH checklists for low pressure and configuration were accomplished. The crew calculated that with the fuel unusable in the center tank the aircraft would arrive with 4;200 pounds of usable fuel. This information was relayed to dispatch and the decision was made to continue to destination; monitor the fuel situation along the way; and look at the need to divert to another airport should the destination airport condition change and result in landing with less fuel. ATC was advised and worked with us; providing direct routing; changing our arrival transition allowing us to remain at cruise altitude for a longer time; and to utilize an optimized profile descent. The applicable ad was taken into consideration as we had center tank fuel without full wing tanks. We determined that with our current fuel load applying the ad constraints would result in exceeding the 120.5 pound ZFW limitation. We also addressed weight and balance issues and although no guidance exists in the QRH; a reference was found in the MEL relating to the center tank pumps being inop. As we neared our destination it appeared that the center tank was scavenging fuel; however we continued with the understanding that all 4;400 pounds were unavailable. Landing occurred without further incident and it was determined that fuel had indeed scavenged from the center tank. The discrepancy was noted in the logbook and the aircraft was released to maintenance.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737-700 flight crew was unable to consume the 4.4K pounds of fuel in their center tank. They continued safely to destination while monitoring actual fuel use and calculated arrival fuel.

Narrative: Flight required 21;100 LBS fuel for Dispatch; with 21;300 LBS on board (16.9 in wings/4.4 in center tank). On climb; after 10;000 FT; both center tank pumps activated. After observing low pressure fuel enunciators illuminate; the lights continued to remain on with no indication that fuel was being pumped. The switches were recycled with the same result. All fuel system circuit breakers were checked and the QRH checklists for LOW PRESSURE and CONFIG were accomplished. The Crew calculated that with the fuel unusable in the center tank the aircraft would arrive with 4;200 LBS of usable fuel. This information was relayed to Dispatch and the decision was made to continue to destination; monitor the fuel situation along the way; and look at the need to divert to another airport should the destination airport condition change and result in landing with less fuel. ATC was advised and worked with us; providing direct routing; changing our arrival transition allowing us to remain at cruise altitude for a longer time; and to utilize an optimized profile descent. The applicable AD was taken into consideration as we had center tank fuel without full wing tanks. We determined that with our current fuel load applying the AD constraints would result in exceeding the 120.5 LB ZFW limitation. We also addressed weight and balance issues and although no guidance exists in the QRH; a reference was found in the MEL relating to the center tank pumps being inop. As we neared our destination it appeared that the center tank was scavenging fuel; however we continued with the understanding that all 4;400 LBS were unavailable. Landing occurred without further incident and it was determined that fuel had indeed scavenged from the center tank. The discrepancy was noted in the logbook and the aircraft was released to Maintenance.

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.