Narrative:

Departing for repositioning flight; I elected to single engine taxi due to having already returned to the gate once due to fuel quantity falling below take-off minimums. I was taxiing behind a B757 and opened the fuel transfer-feed valve as a fuel imbalance was occurring due to the taxi time. Approaching the runway I started the left engine and finished all the remaining checklists. Upon leveling off at cruise altitude of 12;000 ft; the first officer went on #2 com radio to get the ATIS. At this time I noticed a 2;000 pounds fuel imbalance between the left and right fuel tanks. There was more fuel in the left tank. I noticed that the fuel transfer-feed valve was still open. I turned off the fuel pumps in the right tank so as to burn the fuel from the left tank down. We were given a descent to 6;000 ft and a turn to heading 270. Approximately 20 miles after leveling off with approximately 1;100 pounds more fuel in the left fuel tank than the right and with both pumps in the left fuel tank turned on; a sound similar to a compressor stall was heard from the left engine and the airplane yawed to the left. I noticed that the left engine N1 was at 30%. I turned on all fuel pumps and the engine ignition. The engine regained power and stabilized at approximately equal readings to the right engine. We ran the engine flameout checklist and continued the 20 miles to the destination where we landed without further incident. Maintenance is checking out the engine as I write this so the cause of the flameout is not known at this time. However; a causal factor may be the fact that a fuel imbalance was being corrected at the time of the failure. [I] turned on fuel pumps; turned on ignition; completed emergency checklists. Single engine taxi operations are encouraged at the carrier to save fuel. This regularly results in fuel imbalances. Opening the transfer-feed valve is used to stop the imbalance from happening on the ground. The fuel transfer-feed valve position is not addressed on any checklist other than the cockpit preflight checklist. I believe that if the fuel transfer-feed valve position should be added to the before takeoff checklist or the delayed engine start checklist (below the line) to prevent this from happening again.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An MD80 engine flamed out for unknown reasons during descent while a fuel balance procedure was in progress. However the engine restarted with fuel pump and ignition activation.

Narrative: Departing for repositioning flight; I elected to single engine taxi due to having already returned to the gate once due to fuel quantity falling below take-off minimums. I was taxiing behind a B757 and opened the fuel transfer-feed valve as a fuel imbalance was occurring due to the taxi time. Approaching the runway I started the left engine and finished all the remaining checklists. Upon leveling off at cruise altitude of 12;000 FT; the First Officer went on #2 com radio to get the ATIS. At this time I noticed a 2;000 LBS fuel imbalance between the left and right fuel tanks. There was more fuel in the left tank. I noticed that the fuel transfer-feed valve was still open. I turned off the fuel pumps in the right tank so as to burn the fuel from the left tank down. We were given a descent to 6;000 FT and a turn to heading 270. Approximately 20 miles after leveling off with approximately 1;100 LBS more fuel in the left fuel tank than the right and with both pumps in the left fuel tank turned on; a sound similar to a compressor stall was heard from the left engine and the airplane yawed to the left. I noticed that the left engine N1 was at 30%. I turned on all fuel pumps and the engine ignition. The engine regained power and stabilized at approximately equal readings to the right engine. We ran the engine flameout checklist and continued the 20 miles to the destination where we landed without further incident. Maintenance is checking out the engine as I write this so the cause of the flameout is not known at this time. However; a causal factor may be the fact that a fuel imbalance was being corrected at the time of the failure. [I] turned on fuel pumps; turned on ignition; completed emergency checklists. Single engine taxi operations are encouraged at the carrier to save fuel. This regularly results in fuel imbalances. Opening the transfer-feed valve is used to stop the imbalance from happening on the ground. The fuel transfer-feed valve position is not addressed on any checklist other than the Cockpit Preflight Checklist. I believe that if the fuel transfer-feed valve position should be added to the Before Takeoff Checklist or the Delayed Engine Start Checklist (below the line) to prevent this from happening again.

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.