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ATR-72 captain reported a continued and serious fuel balancing problem encountered with the same aircraft on multiple operations; noting maintenance was aware of the problem but returned the aircraft to service without correcting the problem.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 917335 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201011 |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | IMC |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | ATR 72 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Takeoff |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Captain Pilot Flying |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical |
Narrative:
Aircraft had a serious fuel balancing problem and this makes the aircraft very difficult to control in flight with strong left rolling tendencies because the left tank has a lot more fuel than the right tank. After takeoff yesterday; I had to apply full right aileron and rudder trim to maintain level flight. Prior to this I had the yoke 90 degrees right. The first officer noticed a difficulty on the previous flight; however not as severe. I believe more fuel is being burned from the right tank than the left tank; so it is a progressive situation with the gages reading equal but completely inaccurate. This is a recurring problem with a history of write ups for erratic fuel gages and fuel gage MEL's. Prior to the flight yesterday; I had written up the aircraft for the same problem. So maintenance has been accurately aware of the unequal fuel burn problem and the aircraft was still returned to the line yesterday; supposedly fixed. However; it was found after our turn that the left wing dip-sticked over 1;000 pounds heavier than the right tank. In general; with my experience on this airplane; it seems more fuel is coming from the right tank than the left tank; regardless of the cross-feed settings.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: ATR-72 Captain reported a continued and serious fuel balancing problem encountered with the same aircraft on multiple operations; noting maintenance was aware of the problem but returned the aircraft to service without correcting the problem.
Narrative: Aircraft had a serious fuel balancing problem and this makes the aircraft very difficult to control in flight with strong left rolling tendencies because the left tank has a lot more fuel than the right tank. After takeoff yesterday; I had to apply full right aileron and rudder trim to maintain level flight. Prior to this I had the yoke 90 degrees right. The First Officer noticed a difficulty on the previous flight; however not as severe. I believe more fuel is being burned from the right tank than the left tank; so it is a progressive situation with the gages reading equal but completely inaccurate. This is a recurring problem with a history of write ups for erratic fuel gages and fuel gage MEL's. Prior to the flight yesterday; I had written up the aircraft for the same problem. So maintenance has been accurately aware of the unequal fuel burn problem and the aircraft was still returned to the line yesterday; supposedly fixed. However; it was found after our turn that the left wing dip-sticked over 1;000 LBS heavier than the right tank. In general; with my experience on this airplane; it seems more fuel is coming from the right tank than the left tank; regardless of the cross-feed settings.
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.