Although the captain was portrayed as a bumbler he did everything according to published procedure. He was presented with a situation in which the computer monitoring system showed an increase of oil pressure and a decrease in oil temperature. This was caused by the impingement of super cold fuel on the oil heat exchanger. This particular situation was not a part of the training syllabus and as such it was presumed there was a computer error. This set in motion the Captains thoughts about computer irregularities.
The A-330 unlike similar Boeing aircraft has a delayed indication of a fuel imbalance. The leak was going on long before the pilots were warned of the imbalance. The operating procedure under the observed conditions was to open the crossfeed valve.
When the pilots determined that there was a possibility of a leak they requested the cabin staff to check out of the windows. Since it was nighttime they were unable to detect any fuel flow.
After the incident Airbus did two things. They changed the software to provide an indication of fuel imbalance once it is detected (within specified parameters).
They also created an AD that to my knowledge has not been officially released. This AD first of all blamed the situation on the pilots and this is never done. The text of the AD specified the actions to be taken when a leak is detected. The leak must be observed in order to determine the location of the leak. Once the location of the leak had been identified the pilot is instructed to operate or not operate the crossfeed valve depending on the location of the leak. This is all well and good but what if the leak occurs at night when the location of the leak can't be determined. Déjà vu all over again.
Before it was actually determined what caused the leak a fuel tube and a hydraulic tube were delivered to the accident aircraft.
To me it seems that Rolls Royce and/or Airbus knew exactly what had happened.
