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Dispatched with the fuel crossfeed deferred; the flight crew was faced with an emergency when they discovered both engines feeding from the right tank causing half of their fuel to be unuseable.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 904632 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201008 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | ATR 72 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Cruise |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | Fuel Distribution System |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Captain |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Person 2 | |
| Function | First Officer |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue |
Narrative:
Before departure I 'stuck' both fuel tanks. Both stick indications matched their respective fuel gauges in the cockpit. Stick readings were verified by the first officer.while enroute the left fuel tank was indicating more fuel than at departure; and the right fuel tank quantity was decreasing at an abnormally fast rate. The aircraft also needed an abnormal amount of right aileron to maintain wings level. I determined that all indications pointed toward both engines being supplied by the right fuel tank. Since the fuel cross-feed was on MEL; we had no ability to use the fuel in the left tank. We determined that the only fuel available to both engines was the fuel remaining in the right tank.after careful fuel calculations; the first officer and I agreed that we would reach our destination with a course direct the airport; but would be landing in a critical fuel situation. We declared an emergency and requested direct the airport with a straight in approach to the runway. We landed without incident with 3;900 pounds indicated in the left fuel tank; and 350 pounds indicated in the right fuel tank. The discrepancy was entered in the logbook.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Dispatched with the fuel crossfeed deferred; the flight crew was faced with an emergency when they discovered both engines feeding from the right tank causing half of their fuel to be unuseable.
Narrative: Before departure I 'stuck' BOTH fuel tanks. Both stick indications matched their respective fuel gauges in the cockpit. Stick readings were verified by the First Officer.While enroute the left fuel tank was indicating more fuel than at departure; and the right fuel tank quantity was decreasing at an abnormally fast rate. The aircraft also needed an abnormal amount of right aileron to maintain wings level. I determined that all indications pointed toward both engines being supplied by the right fuel tank. Since the Fuel Cross-Feed was on MEL; we had no ability to use the fuel in the left tank. We determined that the only fuel available to both engines was the fuel remaining in the right tank.After careful fuel calculations; the First Officer and I agreed that we would reach our destination with a course direct the airport; but would be landing in a critical fuel situation. We declared an emergency and requested direct the airport with a straight in approach to the runway. We landed without incident with 3;900 LBS indicated in the left fuel tank; and 350 LBS indicated in the right fuel tank. The discrepancy was entered in the logbook.
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.