A CRJ900 captain reported departing with a 4000 pound weight and balance error caused by a misplaced...

Narrative:

Once established in cruise; I went to the FMS to review our current weight. We were fully loaded; but not overweight. I noticed a 4000 pound discrepancy between the weight and balance gtow and the perf in the gtow. When I reviewed the load sheet I caught that the taxi fuel was entered as 4000 rather than as 400; due to a misplaced decimal. The load planner had subtracted the 4000 pounds from our gross weight for the takeoff. Consequently; the takeoff speeds were off by 4 knots. The error occurred because the taxi fuel was entered with a misplaced decimal. I did not review the ACARS loadsheet with the other pilot before it was sent as called for in the flight manual. Just as navigation changes to FMS must be reviewed before executing; the load planning information must be entered and reviewed by both pilots to trap errors. Make a reasonable check of the data against the perf page to make sure the numbers are close.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A CRJ900 Captain reported departing with a 4000 pound weight and balance error caused by a misplaced decimal point in the taxi used fuel. The weight and balance data was not verified by both pilots prior to departure.

Narrative: Once established in cruise; I went to the FMS to review our current weight. We were fully loaded; but not overweight. I noticed a 4000 pound discrepancy between the weight and balance GTOW and the PERF in the GTOW. When I reviewed the load sheet I caught that the taxi fuel was entered as 4000 rather than as 400; due to a misplaced decimal. The Load Planner had subtracted the 4000 pounds from our gross weight for the takeoff. Consequently; the takeoff speeds were off by 4 knots. The error occurred because the taxi fuel was entered with a misplaced decimal. I did not review the ACARS LOADSHEET with the other pilot before it was sent as called for in the flight manual. Just as navigation changes to FMS must be reviewed before executing; the load planning information must be entered and reviewed by BOTH pilots to trap errors. Make a reasonable check of the data against the PERF page to make sure the numbers are close.

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.

Attributes
ACN	871712
Time
Date	201001
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Regional Jet 900 (CRJ900)
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	FMS/FMC
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 22 Flight Crew Total 23465 Flight Crew Type 1590
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural Weight And Balance

A CRJ900 captain reported departing with a 4000 pound weight and balance error caused by a misplaced decimal point in the taxi used fuel. The weight and balance data was not verified by both pilots prior to departure.