F100 CAPT LEARNED AFTER THE FLT THAT COMPANY MAINT HAD GIVEN HIM WRONG ADVISE ABOUT THE CTR FUEL TANK VALVE BEING NORMAL WHEN STUCK IN THE CLOSED POS.

Date: 2001-06 · Aircraft: Fokker 100 · Phase: ground

Anomalies: aircraft-equipment-problem-less-severe|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-maintenance|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy

Synopsis

F100 CAPT LEARNED AFTER THE FLT THAT COMPANY MAINT HAD GIVEN HIM WRONG ADVISE ABOUT THE CTR FUEL TANK VALVE BEING NORMAL WHEN STUCK IN THE CLOSED POS.

Narrative

EARLIER MAINT IN XXX HAD FIXED A CTR TANK VALVE THAT WAS STUCK OPEN. DURING FUELING IN YYY; I WAS TOLD BY MAINT THAT THAT VALVE DID NOT WANT TO OPEN. A CTR TANK VALVE STUCK CLOSED IS DEFERRABLE PER MEL SO I REVIEWED THE FUEL REQUIREMENTS WITH DISPATCH AND ACCEPTED A NEW RELEASE FOR 17000 LBS AND NO FUEL IN CTR TANKS. UPON RETURN TO COCKPIT AND E6 REVIEW; I NOTICED THAT YYY MAINT HAD VOIDED THEIR OWN CTR TANK WRITE-UP INSTEAD OF DEFERRING IT. WHEN I ASKED FOR AN EXPLANATION; HE TOLD ME THAT NAME #1 DELETED AT ZZZ HAD TOLD HIM THAT THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT VALVE AND THAT IT WAS PART OF A NORMAL OPERATING SYS THAT KEEPS A CTR TANK VALVE FROM OPENING WITH TOPPED OFF WING TANKS. I CALLED ZZZ AND WAS TOLD BY NAME #2 DELETED THAT THIS DIAGNOSIS WAS CORRECT AND THAT THE VALVE WAS ACTING BY DESIGN TO PROTECT FUEL TANKS FROM SOME TYPE OF OVERFLOW. I ACCEPTED THIS EXPLANATION BECAUSE I DID NOT SEE A REASON FOR ANYONE TO LIE ABOUT THIS SINCE THE ITEM COULD OTHERWISE HAVE BEEN EASILY DEFERRED PER MEL AND ZZZ ARE THE EXPERTS. THE NEXT DAY; I DECIDED OUT OF CURIOSITY TO TRACK ANY SUBSEQUENT MAINT WRITE-UPS ON 2BB. FLT ABC AGAIN HAD THE CTR TANK VALVE NOT OPENING AND ZZZ HAS DECIDED TO REPLACE THE VALVE; A DECISION MADE BY THE SAME PERSON NAME #2 DELETED WHO A DAY EARLIER ASSURED ME THE VALVE WAS FUNCTIONING AS DESIGNED. I FEEL THAT MAINT AND ENGINEERING DUPED ME INTO TAKING THIS ACFT.

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