A MD82's fuel transfer system did not properly pump fuel from the center tank to the engines until t...

Narrative:

At cruise enroute; we noted the fuel slowly feeding from the main (wing) tanks with the center fuel pumps on. During a 16 minute period; we burned a total of 1;900 pounds of fuel. All should have come from the center tank. In fact only 1;200 fed from the center tank and 700 pounds fed from the wings (mains). We ran the QRH procedure 'fuel not feeding from center tank'. Using the checklist; we discovered that leaving the left main (wing) tank pumps off while leaving the center tank and right main (wing) tanks on allowed us to use center tank fuel and maintain fuel balance between wing (main) tanks. We calculated that we could make our destination with reserve fuel and alternate fuel even if the center tank fuel became unusable. We continued to the filed destination. We contacted dispatch and maintenance via radio. Dispatch calculated we would be within both center of gravity (cg) and zero fuel weight (ZFW) limits with arrival fuel of approximately 3;500 pounds in center tank and 7;000 pounds in each wing tank. We declared an emergency since we had a problem with the fuel system even though we expected a normal landing. We briefed the flight attendants. I briefed the passengers on the PA to assure them in case they noticed emergency vehicles near the aircraft following our arrival. We made a normal approach and landing. We terminated the emergency following landing and made a normal taxi to the gate.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A MD82's fuel transfer system did not properly pump fuel from the center tank to the engines until the wing tank boost pumps were turned OFF. Because of the fuel and CG imbalance an emergency was declared for landing.

Narrative: At cruise enroute; we noted the fuel slowly feeding from the main (wing) tanks with the center fuel pumps ON. During a 16 minute period; we burned a total of 1;900 LBS of fuel. All should have come from the center tank. In fact only 1;200 fed from the center tank and 700 LBS fed from the wings (mains). We ran the QRH procedure 'fuel not feeding from center tank'. Using the checklist; we discovered that leaving the left main (wing) tank pumps OFF while leaving the center tank and right main (wing) tanks ON allowed us to use center tank fuel and maintain fuel balance between wing (main) tanks. We calculated that we could make our destination with reserve fuel and alternate fuel even if the center tank fuel became unusable. We continued to the filed destination. We contacted Dispatch and Maintenance via radio. Dispatch calculated we would be within both Center of Gravity (CG) and Zero Fuel Weight (ZFW) limits with arrival fuel of approximately 3;500 LBS in center tank and 7;000 LBS in each wing tank. We declared an emergency since we had a problem with the fuel system even though we expected a normal landing. We briefed the Flight Attendants. I briefed the passengers on the PA to assure them in case they noticed emergency vehicles near the aircraft following our arrival. We made a normal approach and landing. We terminated the emergency following landing and made a normal taxi to the gate.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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.

Attributes
ACN	994019
Time
Date	201202
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	MD-82
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Fuel Distribution System
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue

A MD82's fuel transfer system did not properly pump fuel from the center tank to the engines until the wing tank boost pumps were turned off. Because of the fuel and cg imbalance an emergency was declared for landing.