A320 Fuel Pumps when slat jammed
 

Anyone enlighten me as to why centre tank fuel pumps must be off (as per ecam) when the slats and flaps are jammed at zero? Burning off max fuel and reducing landing weight strikes me as the order of the day. Can't see an explanation in any of the usual places.

Much appreciated.

Hi Cheapshoes,

You can burn as much centre tank fuel as you like before the Approach.

For Take & Landing, the centre tank pumps must be off (can't feed all the engines from the same tank). Centre tank pump run logic is when the Slats are retracted, therefore with the Slats jammed at zero - you are requested to turn centre pumps off.

I suspected that when someone kindly replied that I'd feel a bit stupid - and so it is! Thanks for the reply rr.

Hey, don`t feel bad:)

I am A 330 driver but for a short time I have flown with A 320, like most.

What I remeber, center tank pumps have a little bit higher pressure than wing pumps, this is so because the center tank fuel is preferred to be used first due to structural reason (i.e wing root has to carry more load if fusalage is heavy). So normally when all pumps are running engines are supplied by center tank pumps. So this means only one pump feeds each engine (because only one pump for each engine in the center tank). This is not a favorable situation at critical phases like take off and landing. Therefore center tanks are automatically forced to be off during take off and landing with slats extension. By this way wing pumps (2 pumps per engine) take over the fuel supply job, and this is saffer.

In your question, if slats are stuck at zero, that means center tank pumps will keep feeding during landing, which is not favorable (only one pump for each engine). That is why, ECAM asks you to switch off center tank pumps to force the main wing pumps to take over fuel supplying job.

I hope I could explain.