2012-02 · NASA ASRS report 994143
An MD11 flight crew was dispatched with an MEL requiring manual fuel pump operation. Passing FL180 the center engine lost power and eventually flamed out. The First Officer discovered that the fuel pumps are not on.They were turned on; along with ignition. The engine started up and the flight continued to destination.
We took off with full anti-ice on. We were in icing conditions until 12;000. After passing 12;000; we were in the clear and we turned off the anti-ice. At approximately FL180; we noticed a rollback of the number two engine N1; N2 and fuel flow. We leveled off at FL210 and notified center of this. They replied that we were cleared to stop our climb at FL210. During this; ENG 2 RPM LOW light illuminated. N1 was approximately 20% and the fuel flow was at 70. An MD-11 Captain was already sitting in the cockpit jump seat. We called the Mechanic up to the cockpit. We ran the ENG 2 RPM LOW checklist which drove us to the non-alert check list. Simultaneously; the Captain was contacting Dispatch who put him in contact with Maintenance Control. While talking with Maintenance Control I discovered the fuel pumps were not in the on position. I turned the fuel pumps on along with the engine ignition override and the engine started without incident. All engine parameters were normal. We conveyed this information to Maintenance Control; Maintenance advised if they could be any further assistance to call them back.
I was on reserve starting at midnight. I had problem sleeping before my call out period; but not so much that I felt fatigued or that it would be a safety issue. I was also called out of the normal sequence that I was expecting due to my landing currency expiring in three weeks. This was unexpected. We were running approximately one and one half hours late due to the snow/sleet that was falling. Looking back these may have been contributing factors along with the de-icing and departure/destination weather. We were actively discussing this during our takeoff briefing. The aircraft had a number of write-ups including one that called for manual procedures for the fuel system. We had four jump seaters - two of the jump seaters were MD-11 qualified Captains and another was a Mechanic. While on the ground; I briefed that during any emergency; we would bring up a MD-11 Captain and the Mechanic to help run the checklist. We were slow in getting loaded and then we had to wait until we were de-iced before we could get going. This along with the other contributing factors mentioned above I believe may have caused us to miss running the fuel system manual checklist. The taxi and take-off occurred without incident. We took off with full anti-ice on. We were in icing conditions until 12;000. After passing 12;000; we were in the clear and we turned off the anti-ice. At approximately FL180; we noticed a rollback of the number two engine N1; N2 and fuel flow. We leveled off at FL210 and notified Indy Center of this. They replied that we were cleared to stop our climb at FL210. During this; ENG 2 RPM LOW light illuminated. N1 was approximately 20% and the fuel flow was at 70. An MD-11 Captain was already sitting in the cockpit jumpseat. We called the mechanic up to the cockpit. We ran the ENG 2 RPM LOW checklist which drove us to the non-alert check list. Simultaneously; I was contacting Dispatch who put me in contact with Maintenance control. While talking with Maintenance Control; the First Officer discovered the fuel pumps were not in the on position. He turned the fuel pumps on along with the engine ignition override and the engine started without incident. All engine parameters were normal. We conveyed this information to Maintenance Control. Maintenance advised if they could be any further assistance to call them back. The engines were operating within normal perameters and the appropriate check lists were complete. We continued on to destination without incident.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
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