Narrative:

During climbout we initially had an engine left fuel pres light intermittently at approximately 20;000 ft. We looked through the QRH level 1 alerts; and it said inlet fuel pressure is low; possible engine flameout; no takeoff. First officer was flying and I transferred the radios to him and contacted maintenance control. They asked about fuel flow and engine indications; and at that time they were normal. ATC issued us a hold due to weather. I gave maintenance control the readouts from the mcdu lru page for the eec 1 and they were intermittently normal. Maintenance control said to standby while they looked up some information. Once over the VOR ATC gave us a heading to 220 due to aircraft separation. During the left turn we both noticed a very rapidly increasing fuel imbalance between the right main tank and left main tank. At this time we tried to crossfeed to no avail. I told maintenance that we were returning to departure airport. At this time first officer told ATC we needed to return to departure airport for precautionary measures. While trying to crossfeed we got a level 1 alert left and right low fuel pressure displayed. By the time we finished our turn the fuel imbalance had exceeded the 1;500 pound maximum increasing rapidly. We then tried the non-alert procedure for fuel crossfeed operation and we verified with the lead flight attendant that there were no leaks from either wing. We told the flight attendants and passengers that we were returning to the departure airport for precautionary purposes. At this point we were given a decent by ATC to try and cross an intersection at 12;000 ft and 250 KIAS. We pulled the throttles back getting the engine fuel pressure low alert again. We then increased the power to keep the fuel flow to 1;700 pounds or above to prevent engine flameout. This limited our ability for a quick descent to meet this restriction. I then told ATC we were an emergency aircraft requesting direct to the airport. At this time we were 4;000 pounds out of balance between main fuel tanks. The emergency briefing was performed with the lead flight attendant. The first officer continued to fly the aircraft and communicate with ATC all available information. I briefed the first officer the runway for landing and discussed possible engine flame out with low fuel quantity in the right main tank. We then transferred controls and I became the pilot flying and the first officer was the pilot monitoring. We continued to monitor the situation with the right main tank having less than 1;000 pounds remaining and the left main tank full with the center tank beginning to take fuel from the overflow. However; we were still high due to the limited power reductions. We lowered the gear at 8;000 ft to help with the descent; taking a small vector to the west to help keep us close to the airport. Once we were able to lose the altitude ATC then gave us a vector to the left to realign with the final approach course for the runway. At this point we had 0 fuel remaining in the right main tank all pumps on and crossfeed open according to the QRH crossfeed checklist. While making the right turn to realign with final it took full control pressure from both yokes to level the wings and then turn right. At this point the first officer asked about airspeed considerations and flap configuration for the aircraft in case of single engine landing and aircraft handling. Now established on final we were slowing and adding flaps for landing we selected flaps 40 and the aircraft rolled left. The first officer asked immediately if I wanted the flaps retracted to 25 and I stated yes. We then made the approach speed 170 KIAS. The aircraft became more stable but required full aileron and rudder to stay straight. I asked the first officer to work the power while I maintained directional control. We then landed on the runway uneventfully turning off the runway coming to a complete stop. Crash fire rescue equipment then inspected the aircraft for fuel leaks or possible fire issues. We briefedthe passengers that they would see crash fire rescue equipment around the aircraft to not be alarmed. Crash fire rescue equipment gave us a good inspection clearing us to the gate with an escort.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A left wing tank internal fuel feed line broke prior to the wing spar fuel shut off valve forcing fuel back into the tank and away from the engine. The returning fuel was forced to the right tank causing a fuel imbalance; control problems and a return to the departure airport with an emergency declared.

Narrative: During climbout we initially had an ENG L FUEL PRES light intermittently at approximately 20;000 FT. We looked through the QRH level 1 alerts; and it said inlet fuel pressure is low; possible engine flameout; no takeoff. First Officer was flying and I transferred the radios to him and contacted Maintenance Control. They asked about fuel flow and engine indications; and at that time they were normal. ATC issued us a hold due to weather. I gave Maintenance Control the readouts from the MCDU LRU page for the EEC 1 and they were intermittently normal. Maintenance Control said to standby while they looked up some information. Once over the VOR ATC gave us a heading to 220 due to aircraft separation. During the left turn we both noticed a very rapidly increasing fuel imbalance between the right main tank and left main tank. At this time we tried to crossfeed to no avail. I told Maintenance that we were returning to departure airport. At this time First Officer told ATC we needed to return to departure airport for precautionary measures. While trying to crossfeed we got a level 1 alert left and right low fuel pressure displayed. By the time we finished our turn the fuel imbalance had exceeded the 1;500 LB maximum increasing rapidly. We then tried the non-alert procedure for fuel crossfeed operation and we verified with the lead flight attendant that there were no leaks from either wing. We told the Flight Attendants and passengers that we were returning to the departure airport for precautionary purposes. At this point we were given a decent by ATC to try and cross an intersection at 12;000 FT and 250 KIAS. We pulled the throttles back getting the engine fuel pressure low alert again. We then increased the power to keep the fuel flow to 1;700 LBS or above to prevent engine flameout. This limited our ability for a quick descent to meet this restriction. I then told ATC we were an emergency aircraft requesting direct to the airport. At this time we were 4;000 LBS out of balance between main fuel tanks. The emergency briefing was performed with the lead Flight Attendant. The First Officer continued to fly the aircraft and communicate with ATC all available information. I briefed the First Officer the runway for landing and discussed possible engine flame out with low fuel quantity in the right main tank. We then transferred controls and I became the pilot flying and the First Officer was the pilot monitoring. We continued to monitor the situation with the right main tank having less than 1;000 LBS remaining and the left main tank full with the center tank beginning to take fuel from the overflow. However; we were still high due to the limited power reductions. We lowered the gear at 8;000 FT to help with the descent; taking a small vector to the west to help keep us close to the airport. Once we were able to lose the altitude ATC then gave us a vector to the left to realign with the final approach course for the runway. At this point we had 0 fuel remaining in the right main tank all pumps on and crossfeed open according to the QRH crossfeed checklist. While making the right turn to realign with final it took full control pressure from both yokes to level the wings and then turn right. At this point the First Officer asked about airspeed considerations and flap configuration for the aircraft in case of single engine landing and aircraft handling. Now established on final we were slowing and adding flaps for landing we selected flaps 40 and the aircraft rolled left. The First Officer asked immediately if I wanted the flaps retracted to 25 and I stated yes. We then made the approach speed 170 KIAS. The aircraft became more stable but required full aileron and rudder to stay straight. I asked the First Officer to work the power while I maintained directional control. We then landed on the runway uneventfully turning off the runway coming to a complete stop. CFR then inspected the aircraft for fuel leaks or possible fire issues. We briefedthe passengers that they would see CFR around the aircraft to not be alarmed. CFR gave us a good inspection clearing us to the gate with an escort.

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.