Narrative:

Our aircraft arrived late. As I came out of the gate I stopped to speak to a ramp supervisor and while talking to him I did see a fuel truck pulling around to the back of the plane. I assumed the truck was arriving to fuel us. Once the first officer got back in the plane after his walk around; I called for the checklists. When we got to item; 'preferred fuel quantity' we stopped the checklist because I noticed that there was only 2;000 pounds and assumed the fueler I saw was going to fuel the aircraft. The first officer said he also saw a truck on the other side of the plane when he did his walk around. A little pressed for time we then reviewed the MEL's on the aircraft while passengers were boarding. When we finished checking the MEL's the flight attendant brought up the passenger count along with the other paperwork. The weight and balance was completed and handed to the flight attendant. I think there was a comment made by the gate agent about the time we would call off the gate. The door was closed and I got the go ahead signal and I started the #2 engine using the APU and called for push-back. As we stated push back we both noticed almost at the same time that we still only had 2;000 pounds of fuel and stopped the push back. Almost at that same time ramp control called and said the fueler supervisor notified them that they had not been able to fuel us yet. We elected to return to the gate under our own power; and got the proper amount of fuel.the inbound flight was late so we were trying to get an on time departure and were somewhat rushed and stopped the checklist at the fuel call; and then started reviewing the mels; then the paperwork arrived and was completed and we never went back to the checklist to complete it. Slow down; make sure all checklists are completed and not go on to something else (MEL's) and perhaps hold the checklist in my hand until it's complete.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: DHC8 flight crew reports pushing back without the proper fuel load. The before start checklist had been interrupted when the improper fuel was noted and never restarted.

Narrative: Our Aircraft arrived late. As I came out of the gate I stopped to speak to a Ramp Supervisor and while talking to him I did see a fuel truck pulling around to the back of the plane. I assumed the truck was arriving to fuel us. Once the First Officer got back in the plane after his walk around; I called for the Checklists. When we got to item; 'Preferred Fuel Quantity' we stopped the checklist because I noticed that there was only 2;000 LBS and assumed the fueler I saw was going to fuel the aircraft. The First Officer said he also saw a truck on the other side of the plane when he did his walk around. A little pressed for time we then reviewed the MEL's on the aircraft while passengers were boarding. When we finished checking the MEL's the Flight Attendant brought up the passenger count along with the other paperwork. The weight and balance was completed and handed to the Flight Attendant. I think there was a comment made by the gate agent about the time we would call off the gate. The door was closed and I got the go ahead signal and I started the #2 Engine using the APU and called for push-back. As we stated push back we both noticed almost at the same time that we still only had 2;000 LBS of fuel and stopped the push back. Almost at that same time Ramp Control called and said the Fueler Supervisor notified them that they had not been able to fuel us yet. We elected to return to the gate under our own power; and got the proper amount of fuel.The inbound flight was late so we were trying to get an on time departure and were somewhat rushed and stopped the checklist at the fuel call; and then started reviewing the MELs; then the paperwork arrived and was completed and we never went back to the checklist to complete it. Slow down; make sure all checklists are completed and not go on to something else (MEL's) and perhaps hold the checklist in my hand until it's complete.

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.