I think the previous poster who suggested fuel starvation is reading something into the report that isn't there. There's nothing I can see in this report that gives an indication of the cause but it does rule some things out. As to the debris found in the tanks, it's undesirable but not uncommon or necessarily dangerous. Aircraft have been leaving the Boeing plant with bigger bits of FOD than those in the tanks for years.
Shoey - the spar fuel valve is in the fuel tank and the fuel passes through this first on the way to the engine. It then passes through various fuel pumps, heat exchangers and other paraphernalia before it arrives at the engine fuel valve, through which is passes into the engine to be burned. It would appear in this instance that there was a rupture somewhere between the engine and the spar fuel valve, allowing fuel to leak through the open spar fuel valve and out of the system even though the engine fuel valve was closed.
Last edited by Hand Solo; 18th Feb 2008 at 15:54.