hi
I flew the DC9-30 and everything seemed to work just fine...but two things to remember.
american has been trying to keep fuel a little tight and maybe that is why things got a bit more urgent
also, maybe strange bugs hitherto unknown have been placed in the fuel due to , yes, hurricane katrina... maybe water levels changed allowing microbes to grow.
I think we should call them "whittle bugs" by the way. named after Sir Frank Whittle and I am sure everyone on this forum knows who he is/was.
I do recall an odd occurance once, long ago in a galaxy far far away. A cessna 402 (over wing fueling caps) was left out to be fueled. The caps were left off and the fueler went home. Yes, it rained! didn't even fill the tanks with water, but the WATER was such a different value for capacitance ( electrical that is) it showed full on the gauges.
Well, it all turned out ok as the plane couldn't even start its engines...but lots of water in jet fuel just might make the quantity system show too much when there was not enough.
YIKES
jon