PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Air Transat crew not to blame in A330 emergency landing in the Azores
Old 8th Feb 2002, 18:17
  #61 (permalink)  
RatherBeFlying
 
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Toronto
Posts: 2,561
Received 41 Likes on 20 Posts
Post

As we have seen, Fuel Imbalance or Oil Temperature warnings can be the tip of an iceberg; so, at the first glimmer of Fuel Imbalance, just what is the procedure to exclude Fuel Leak <img src="confused.gif" border="0">

It seems that ECAMs generally report Fuel Imbalance before Fuel Disagree, but in this case that message, if issued, came a bit late. At the present time, Fuel Disagree is issued when remaining fuel disagrees substantially with what should be left after subtracting fuel burn.

It would be better to monitor tank depletion vs. engine burn in real time -- this requires integrating engine fuel flows over a short interval and comparing that to fuel quantity at the beginning of the interval less what's there now. That way a pipe rupture can be caught while there's still fuel somewhere.
RatherBeFlying is offline