A CL65 WITH CHRONIC FUEL QUANTITY INDICATION PROBS WAS DISPATCHED IN NON COMPLIANCE WITH INADEQUATE FUEL TO COMPLETE THE SCHEDULED TRIP.

2000-09 · NASA ASRS report 485002

Date: 2000-09 · Aircraft: Regional Jet CL65; Undifferentiated or Other Model · Phase: ground

Anomalies: aircraft-equipment-problem-critical|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-maintenance|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy

Synopsis

A CL65 WITH CHRONIC FUEL QUANTITY INDICATION PROBS WAS DISPATCHED IN NON COMPLIANCE WITH INADEQUATE FUEL TO COMPLETE THE SCHEDULED TRIP.

Narrative

I ARRIVED AT ACFT XYZ ABOUT 40-45 MINS PRIOR TO DEP. THE FUEL RECEIPT STATED THAT WE HAD FUEL ON BOARD. I DECIDED THAT WITH ALL THE PROBS THAT ACFT HAS HAD WITH THIS FUEL ANOMALY; THAT I WOULD HAVE MAINT COME OUT AND DIP THE TANKS. I DO NOT REMEMBER THE MAINT GUY'S NAME; BUT ABOUT 5 MINS PRIOR TO DEP HE CAME TO ME AND SAID THAT WE HAD ABOUT 7800 LBS ON BOARD. THIS DID CONCUR WITH WHAT MY FUEL GAUGE SAID. WE TOOK OFF OUT OF ZZZ AND FLEW TO XXX WITHOUT ANY PROB; HOWEVER; THE FUEL GAUGE FLUCTUATED AROUND 7800 LBS. AFTER LNDG IN XXX; THE FUELER THERE TOLD ME WE HAD FUEL ON BOARD. I KNEW THIS COULD NOT BE TRUE DUE TO THE FACT THAT WE FLEW FOR APPROX 1 HR 15 MINS. I CALLED MAINT CTL AND TOLD THEM OF THIS. THEY ASKED ME TO PWR DOWN THE ACFT AND THEN REPWR AFTER ABOUT 3 MINS. I COMPLIED WITH THIS PROC. THE FUEL GAUGES CAME BACK TO LIFE AND READ 50 LBS ON THE L SIDE; AND 410 LBS ON THE R FOR A TOTAL OF 460 LBS. I BECAME GRAVELY CONCERNED AT THIS MOMENT. I CALLED MAINT BACK AND TOLD THEM. THEY STILL DID NOT SEEM CONCERNED. AFTER A LENGTHY CONVERSATION WITH DISPATCH; I STOOD THERE AND WATCHED THE FUELER PUT ON 1356 GALLONS OF FUEL. (APPROX 9085.2 LBS OF FUEL). THE CL65 WILL ONLY HOLD 4760 LBS OF FUEL PER WING (9520 LBS TOTAL)! THIS MEANT THAT I PULLED INTO THE GATE WITH APPROX 434.8 LBS OF FUEL TOTAL. I CALLED DISPATCH BACK TO LET THEM KNOW. I WAS INFORMED THAT THIS COULD NOT BE TRUE. I TOLD THEM TO DO THE MATH AND THAT I WOULD TALK TO THEM IN ZZZ. THE FLT TO ZZZ WAS UNEVENTFUL. DUE TO THIS FUEL ANOMALY; THE CREW NEVER GOT ANY WARNING THAT WE WERE RUNNING OUT OF FUEL. THE ZZZ FUEL COMPUTER ALWAYS THOUGHT WE HAD 7800 LBS ON BOARD. UPON ARR IN ZZZ; I INFORMED DISPATCH THAT IF I WAS GOING TO CONTINUE TO FLY THIS ACFT I WANTED THE WINGS TOPPED OFF. NEEDLESS TO SAY; THEY DID NOT LIKE THIS IDEA. MAINT MET THE ACFT AT GATE AND AFTER I TOLD THEM THE STORY THEY STILL DID NOT SEE THE GRAVITY OF THE SIT. THEY ONCE AGAIN TOLD ME THAT I COULD NOT HAVE PUT THAT MUCH FUEL ON BOARD IN XXX. THE FUEL INVOICE IN XXX CONFIRMED THE METER READINGS 62023-60667 -- WHICH IS 1356 GALLONS. I LEFT THE ACFT AND WENT TO GET IN TOUCH WITH ABC XOXX. I TOLD HIM THE STORY AND HE IMMEDIATELY SAW THE GRAVITY OF THIS SIT. (THE FIRST ONE BESIDES THE CREW TO SEE THIS). HE SAID TO TOP THE WINGS OFF BEFORE FLYING THIS ACFT. HE CONTACTED DISPATCH AND TOLD THEM THE SAME. I STILL FEEL AT THIS POINT THAT DISPATCH DID NOT SEE THE GRAVITY OF WHAT WAS GOING ON. AFTER HANGING UP THE PHONE WITH MR XOXX; OPS CALLED TO INFORM ME THAT MAINT SAID THE ACFT WAS 'GOOD TO GO' (THEY STILL DID NOT SEE OR BELIEVE THERE WAS ANYTHING TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT). AFTER RETURN TO ACFT; I STARTED TO DO MY PRETKOF CHKS. WITH THIS MECH'S HELP WE WERE ABLE TO CONVINCE DISPATCH TO GIVE ME A DIFFERENT ACFT. DUE TO THE HISTORY OF THIS ACFT; NOBODY SEEMED CONCERNED ABOUT IT DOING WHAT IT HAS BEEN DOING.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.

Loading the flight search…

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.