B737-800 EXPERIENCES FUEL LEAK INTO AFT GALLEY AREA.

Narrative

2 HRS INTO OUR LEG; WE GOT A CALL FROM ONE OF THE FLT ATTENDANTS IN THE AFT GALLEY TO TELL US ABOUT A STRONG FUEL SMELL. THE ODOR SEEMED TO BE CONFINED TO THE GALLEY AREA AND WAS DESCRIBED AS 'OVERWHELMING' AND 'THE STRONGEST ODOR I'VE SMELLED IN 36 YRS OF FLYING.' I ASKED SEVERAL QUESTIONS AND DETERMINED THAT WHILE THERE WAS NO FUEL VISIBLE; THE FLT ATTENDANTS WERE NOT ABLE TO PINPOINT THE SOURCE OF THE SMELL; WHICH I WAS TOLD DIDN'T EXTEND INTO THE CABIN. MY FIRST THOUGHT WAS THAT THE ONLY FUEL IN THE AFT END OF THE AIRPLANE WAS TO SUPPLY THE APU. I LOOKED UP AT THE APU SWITCH AND DISCOVERED WE'D INADVERTENTLY LEFT IT RUNNING AFTER DOING A BLEEDS OFF TKOF. I TURNED IT OFF AND HAD THE FLT ATTENDANT STAY ON THE INTERPHONE TO SEE IF THE ODOR ABATED AT ALL. AFTER A COUPLE OF MINS; SHE TOLD ME THAT THE SMELL SEEMED TO BE GOING AWAY. I ASKED HER TO CALL ME BACK IF ANYTHING CHANGED. WE HAD NO ABNORMAL INDICATIONS IN THE COCKPIT; INCLUDING ANY INDICATION OF A FUEL LOSS; SO WE CONTINUED ON TOWARD ZZZ. ABOUT 15 MINS LATER; I GOT ANOTHER CALL TELLING ME THE SMELL WAS BACK AND WAS AS STRONG AS IT HAD BEEN THE FIRST TIME. I TOLD THE FLT ATTENDANT THAT WE'D BE ON THE GND SOON AND WOULD HAVE FIRE TRUCKS MEET US TO CHK THE PLANE OVER FOR EXTERNAL FUEL LEAKS. WE DISCUSSED THE POSSIBILITY OF AN EVAC; HOWEVER I TOLD HER THAT UNLESS THERE WAS A FIRE OR LARGE SCALE VISIBLE FUEL LEAK; I WANTED THE PAX TO REMAIN SEATED AFTER LNDG. I TOLD HER THAT IF THE SITUATION CHANGED IN ANY WAY TO CALL ME IMMEDIATELY. AT THIS POINT WE WERE NEAR THE TOP OF DSCNT INTO ZZZ ON THE STAR. I HAD MY FO NOTIFY I CTR THAT WE WERE DECLARING AN EMER DUE TO A POSSIBLE FUEL LEAK IN THE CABIN AND THAT WE NEEDED CFR CREWS TO MEET US UPON LNDG TO CHK THE AFT END OF THE PLANE FOR ANY INDICATIONS OF A LEAK. WE WERE OFFERED ANY SUITABLE ARPT FOR LNDG; BUT SINCE WE WERE ALREADY ON A NORMAL DSCNT PROFILE FOR ZZZ; WE ELECTED TO CONTINUE TO DEST. WE ASKED FOR AND RECEIVED CLRNC DIRECT TO THE FINAL APCH FIX FOR RWY 13R; WHICH WAS BOTH THE CLOSEST RWY AND THE ONE WHICH I FELT WOULD PRESENT THE LEAST DISRUPTION TO NORMAL OPS IN THE EVENT OF AN EVAC. AS WE PROCEEDED TOWARD THE ARPT; MY FO AND I LOOKED FOR BUT COULD NOT FIND ANY PROC IN THE QRH WHICH ADDRESSED THE CONDITION WE WERE DEALING WITH. WE CONSIDERED SMOKE/FUMES REMOVAL; BUT THE SMELL WAS CONFINED TO THE AFT GALLEY AND NOT THE COCKPIT OR PAX CABIN. THERE IS NO PROC FOR AN APU FUEL LEAK. THE ONLY SYS RELATED PRECAUTION I COULD THINK OF WAS TO PULL THE APU FIRE HANDLE (WHICH WE DID) IN ORDER TO CLOSE THE APU FUEL SHUTOFF VALVE IN THE HOPE THAT IF THERE WAS A LEAK IN THE FUEL LINE TO THE APU; IT WAS DOWNSTREAM OF THAT VALVE. I ALSO SHUT OFF GALLEY PWR TO REMOVE ANY ELECTRICAL SOURCES WHICH MIGHT HAVE IGNITED ANY FUEL. DURING THE DSCNT; MY #1 FLT ATTENDANT WENT BACK TO THE AFT GALLEY TO SEE IF HE COULD DETERMINE THE SOURCE OF THE FUEL SMELL. HE CALLED ME BACK TO TELL ME THAT THE ODOR SEEMED TO BE COMING FROM BEHIND THE FOOD CARTS. HE'D PULLED THE CTR CART OUT AND STUCK HIS HEAD IN ITS SPACE AND SAID THE SMELL OF KEROSENE WAS VERY STRONG. AS WE CONTINUED THE DSCNT; I ELECTED TO BRIEF THE PAX ON OUR SITUATION; AS THEY'D CLRLY BE ABLE TO SEE THE FIRE TRUCKS RACING TOWARD US AFTER LNDG. I EXPLAINED THAT WE'D CALLED THEM STRICTLY AS A PRECAUTION TO CHK THE PLANE OVER; DUE TO AN UNUSUAL ODOR IN THE BACK OF THE PLANE; BUT THAT I ANTICIPATED A NORMAL APCH AND LNDG FOLLOWED BY A TAXI TO OUR GATE. WE MADE AN EXPEDITIOUS APCH AND LNDG. WE EXITED THE RWY AT THE HIGH SPD AND AT THE REQUEST OF THE CFR SUPVR ON SCENE; PROCEEDED ONTO TXWY BEFORE STOPPING TO HAVE HIS CREWS CHK THE PLANE OVER. AS WE WERE PARKING; I GOT A CALL FROM THE FLT ATTENDANT SEATED ON THE JUMPSEAT NEXT TO THE AFT R GALLEY DOOR THAT AS WE DECELERATED ON LNDG ROLLOUT; SHE FELT SOMETHING WET SPRAY ONTO HER LEG. SHE WIPED IT WITH HER FINGERS; SMELLED IT AND TOLD ME IT WAS DEFINITELY FUEL. SHE HADN'T SEEN WHERE IT WAS COMING FROM. AFTER LOOKING THE PLANE OVER; THE CRASH CREW RPTED NO VISIBLE LEAKS; SO I HAD THEM MOVE IN CLOSER TO LOOK FOR EVIDENCE OF ANY FUEL STREAKS FROM THE APU AREA. THERE WERE NONE. AT THAT POINT; WE TOLD THE CREW WE'D TAXI TO OUR GATE. THEY TOLD US THEY'D FOLLOW US TO THE GATE; WHICH WAS PROC. I MADE A QUICK PA TO TELL THE PAX THAT EVERYTHING LOOKED NORMAL AND THEN HEADED FOR THE GATE. TAXI IN; PARKING AND DEPLANING WERE NORMAL. AFTER THE PAX WERE OFF; MY FO WENT BACK TO THE AFT GALLEY WHILE I SPOKE WITH THE CFR SUPVR. MY FO IMMEDIATELY SMELLED THE FUEL ODOR IN THE GALLEY AND STARTED PULLING OUT CARTS TO TRY TO LOCALIZE THE SOURCE. AFTER PULLING OUT THE CTR FOOD CART; HE PULLED OUT THE RETRACTABLE TRAY TABLE ABOVE IT. THE SURFACE OF THE TRAY WAS WET. HE SMELLED THE LIQUID ON THE TRAY AND IT WAS DEFINITELY JET FUEL. AFTER I FINISHED TALKING TO THE CFR CHIEF; I WENT AFT WITH 2 MAINT TECHNICIANS WHERE MY FO SHOWED US WHAT HE'D FOUND. THE MAINT GUYS COULDN'T DETERMINE THE SOURCE OF THE FUEL; BUT WE ALL AGREED THAT THE PLANE NEEDED TO BE REMOVED FROM SVC AS THERE WAS CLRLY A LEAK THEY NEEDED TO TRACE AND REPAIR. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: THE CAPTAIN HAS BEEN IN FREQUENT CONTACT WITH ACR MAINTENANCE AND FLT OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT REGARDING THIS INCIDENT. THERE HAS BEEN NO DETERMINATION MADE OF HOW THE JET FUEL GOT TO THE LOCATION WHERE IT WAS FOUND. NO SYSTEM FUEL SOURCE IS NEAR THE AREA ALTHOUGH SHROUDED LINES TO THE APU ARE UNDER THE FLOOR WELL BELOW WHERE THE SPILL WAS FOUND. THE SHROUDS WERE FOUND TO BE DRY AND AFTER CLEANING THE TRAY TABLE AND INSPECTING THE AREA; THE ACFT WAS DISPATCHED AND HAS FLOWN NUMEROUS FLIGHTS WITH NO RECURRENCE OF THE PROBLEM. REPORTER WAS ESPECIALLY CURIOUS THAT THERE WAS NO DETECTED ODOR FOR THE FIRST TWO HOURS OF THE FLT AND; YET; WHEN IT WAS DETECTED IT WAS VERY STRONG; THE IMPLICATION BEING THAT THE FLUID WAS NOT THERE INITIALLY AND WOULD HAVE TO HAVE BEEN DISCHARGED IN SOME FASHION ENRTE.