Narrative:

We arrive at the gate to begin our duties. Fueling seemed to take an inordinately long time to add the final 2.6K of fuel to bring us to gate release fuel. The fueler could not get the fuel into the auxiliary center tank (act) and called maintenance. They worked on it for awhile and then called for the fueler to return and finish loading. The tech said the fueler needed to increase pressure to force fuel into the tank. The fueler was able to put in act 2 but not act 1. I could not find any guidance in the fom/ph so I decided to take the aircraft as all weight and balance perimeters were within limits. After takeoff and the center tank had burned to around 6.6K; we received the ECAM about the act 1 not feeding. We turned on the act button; act 2 fed into the center tank as advertised and we cleared the overhead panel. Maintenance control continues to be a 'black hole:' information goes in but nothing comes out. I could receive no guidance on this matter; as I stated in the previous paragraph; so I proceeded with my best judgment. I needed to talk directly with maintenance control to get the information I needed to be absolutely sure of my decision.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A321 Captain reports the Fueler having trouble getting fuel into ACT (auxiliary center tank) prior to departure. Once airborne the ACT fuel does not transfer as expected causing an ECAM message. Selecting the ACT push button cleared the problem.

Narrative: We arrive at the gate to begin our duties. Fueling seemed to take an inordinately long time to add the final 2.6K of fuel to bring us to gate release fuel. The Fueler could not get the fuel into the Auxiliary Center Tank (ACT) and called Maintenance. They worked on it for awhile and then called for the Fueler to return and finish loading. The Tech said the Fueler needed to increase pressure to force fuel into the tank. The Fueler was able to put in ACT 2 but not ACT 1. I could not find any guidance in the FOM/PH so I decided to take the aircraft as all weight and balance perimeters were within limits. After takeoff and the center tank had burned to around 6.6K; we received the ECAM about the ACT 1 not feeding. We turned on the ACT button; ACT 2 fed into the center tank as advertised and we cleared the overhead panel. Maintenance Control continues to be a 'Black Hole:' Information goes in but nothing comes out. I could receive no guidance on this matter; as I stated in the previous paragraph; so I proceeded with my best judgment. I needed to talk directly with Maintenance Control to get the information I needed to be absolutely sure of my decision.

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.