A SWEARINGEN 227-4 USED APPROVED FUEL XFER METHOD OF TAXIING IN CIRCLES AT A SLOW WALK. FAA SAFETY INSPECTOR OBSERVING ADVISED CAPT OF SAFETY VIOLATION.

2002-11 · NASA ASRS report 565824

Date: 2002-11 · Aircraft: SA-227 AC Metro III · Phase: taxi

Anomalies: aircraft-equipment-problem-critical

Synopsis

A SWEARINGEN 227-4 USED APPROVED FUEL XFER METHOD OF TAXIING IN CIRCLES AT A SLOW WALK. FAA SAFETY INSPECTOR OBSERVING ADVISED CAPT OF SAFETY VIOLATION.

Narrative

PLT REQUIRED TO XFER FUEL DUE TO FUEL IMBAL. PROC ACCEPTED FOR NON MECHANICAL XFER BY COMPANY AND MANUFACTURER IS TO TAXI IN CIRCULAR REVOLUTIONS TO USE CENTRIFUGAL ENERGY TO FORCE FUEL FROM 1 TANK TO OTHER TANK. PLT PERFORMED THIS PROC WITH APPROVAL FROM SFF GND; REMAINED IN COM WITH SFF GND FREQ. PLT USED PERSON TO SPOT/VIEW PROC. PLT PERFORMED PROC AT BASE OF CTL TWR; IN VIEW OF CTLR IN MOST WELL LIT OPEN AREA OF ARPT. FAA VIEWED PROC AND AFTER COMPLETION OF PROC APCHED PLT WITH QUESTIONS OF SAFETY REGARDING THIS PROC. TO REITERATE: 1) PROC IN QUESTION -- FUEL XFER BY CENTRIFUGAL FORCE DURING TAXI OPS. 2) COMPANY AND MANUFACTURER APPROVED PROC. 3) PLT OBTAINED TWR APPROVAL AND REMAINED IN RADIO COM THROUGHOUT PROC. 4) PLT UTILIZED SPOTTER FOR PROC. 5) PLT UTILIZED LARGEST OPEN SPACE AVAILABLE ON ARPT -- 100 YARDS BY 75 YARDS. 6) PLT PERFORMED PROC WITH 11 TURNS. 7) TAXI SPD; FAST WALK. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: THE RPTR STATED WHEN SUMMONED TO THE LCL FAA FSDO AND MEETING WITH THE MGR; ALL ISSUES REGARDING SAFETY VIOLATIONS WERE DROPPED. THE RPTR SAID THE FUEL XFER PROC WAS EXPLAINED TO THE MGR AND THE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS THAT WERE TAKEN RESULTED IN ALL CHARGES BEING DROPPED.

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.