MD80 captain experienced a brief power loss during climb at about the time center tank fuel was depl...

Narrative:

Captain refused aircraft because; in my opinion; the problem we had the prior day had not been identified. The day prior; climbing out; at FL260; both engines went from 2.06 climb EPR to approximately 1.8 on their own with no autothrottle movement and then readjusted to 2.06 EPR. This was at approximately the same time that the center tank was exhausted of fuel; and the center tank pumps were shut off; approximately 15-20 seconds after this occurred. There were no other indications in the cockpit relating to this. Company sent out a team of engine specialists; to run up the engines; which worked fine the rest of the way to destination; but they did not look at the fuel situation which I feel was part of the problem and why I refused the aircraft.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: MD80 Captain experienced a brief power loss during climb at about the time center tank fuel was depleted. Flight continued to destination where Maintenance was unable to find a cause; leading the Captain to subsequently refuse the aircraft for their following flight.

Narrative: Captain refused aircraft because; in my opinion; the problem we had the prior day had not been identified. The day prior; climbing out; at FL260; both engines went from 2.06 climb EPR to approximately 1.8 on their own with no autothrottle movement and then readjusted to 2.06 EPR. This was at approximately the same time that the center tank was exhausted of fuel; and the center tank pumps were shut off; approximately 15-20 seconds after this occurred. There were no other indications in the cockpit relating to this. Company sent out a team of engine specialists; to run up the engines; which worked fine the rest of the way to destination; but they did not look at the fuel situation which I feel was part of the problem and why I refused the aircraft.

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	884397
Time
Date	201004
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	MD-80 Series (DC-9-80) Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Component
Aircraft Component	Turbine Engine
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe

MD80 captain experienced a brief power loss during climb at about the time center tank fuel was depleted. Flight continued to destination where maintenance was unable to find a cause; leading the captain to subsequently refuse the aircraft for their following flight.