737NG Fuel AD
Here we go again with the fuel AD question. So last night I did my PC check and we had a double failure of the center tank fuel pumps. Ran the QRH and I mentioned to my FO to request vectors for landing since we had about 18000 lbs of fuel in the center tank. My inspector inquired about my decision and I explained to him it was based on the fuel AD that limits the MZFW exceedance by no more than 5000 LBS during climb and cruise and by 3000 lbs during the descent since we were using fuel from main tanks now. He seemed pretty confused and told me that the AD is for despatch rules only. I continued with the ride and changed my position, even though I am pretty sure I am right, as the old saying goes " cooperate graduate". Am I missing something or my instructor was wrong? Thanks to anyone and I apologize for the numbers in pounds instead of kilos for the European pilots.