Originally Posted by
nlarbale
From my reading of the AAIB report, they tested the wing tanks, but due to contamination with foam, etc, the center tanks were not tested. Also, due to the center tank breach by MLG, does it not seem possible that any ice may have melted and drained from the center tank by the time the AAIB had a look, or any remaining water mixed with foam etc so as to make any analysis difficult at best
Also CWT would have been empty by landing anyway...
If there was enough something (fuel or water) in CWT for the boost pumps to still be running (or they started up again) then I think that would be a serious anomaly that would be in the data and would have been jumped at by the investigation.
If not, then the only way (at least as I understand the fuel system) anything is getting from CWT to the engines is via fuel scavenge
into the wing tanks. So you would find evidence of it
in the wing tanks.
So, let's say there is a big lump of ice in CWT, so it doesn't therefore get scavenged earlier on, and it gets slushy during the descent,
then the slush would end up in the wing tanks via fuel scavenge, where it might then perhaps make it's way to the engines in a big enough lump to cause a problem. Then afterwards you'd find water in the main tanks - and they didn't...