Herod - I disagree with your interpretation. The wing tanks were assumed to be full so the sum of their contents was added to an incorrectly dipped centre tank. Measuring the wing tanks would not have changed the numbers. What I find interesting is that the blame fell in the shoulders of the techie and none on the manufacturer. After all, how difficult can it be to dip a tank? Maybe Boeing’s ‘Magastick’ checking procedures need reviewing as does their QA process for installing programable fuel sensors that enable spurious tank values to be displayed. And how many times has this happened before? I also find it interesting that the additonal 41 tonnes went unnoticed in performance terms but as I only fly bug smashers I’ll let someone more qualified comment.
PM