A boeing 737 captain reported a fuel imbalance condition which was the result of fuel crossfeed mism...

Attributes
ACN	1350884
Time
Date	201604
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Fuel Crossfeed
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural Weight And Balance Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue

Narrative:

We were at cruise altitude at fl 350 and about 1 hour from landing. I was the pilot not flying and we did a bathroom swap and I went first. Upon my return I noticed that the main fuel tanks needed to be rebalanced so I set up fuel panel for that. When my first officer returned I forgot to mention to him that I was balancing fuel. We then became distracted by several descents from ATC and then the RNAV arrival descent. I noticed that our fuel was out of balance with left tank at 6.2 and right tank at 4.5. I then rebalanced fuel and got both tanks even when we rolled onto final for the visual.this was my fault as I should have waited to rebalance once my first officer was back in cockpit. At the least I should have remembered to tell him when he returned. The bathroom swap out and its distractions is not good time to rebalance fuel!

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Boeing 737 Captain reported a fuel imbalance condition which was the result of fuel crossfeed mismanagement and an intra cockpit communication breakdown. The situation was corrected and an uneventful landing was accomplished.

Narrative: We were at cruise altitude at FL 350 and about 1 hour from landing. I was the pilot not flying and we did a bathroom swap and I went first. Upon my return I noticed that the main fuel tanks needed to be rebalanced so I set up fuel panel for that. When my FO returned I forgot to mention to him that I was balancing fuel. We then became distracted by several descents from ATC and then the RNAV arrival descent. I noticed that our fuel was out of balance with left tank at 6.2 and right tank at 4.5. I then rebalanced fuel and got both tanks even when we rolled onto final for the visual.This was my fault as I should have waited to rebalance once my First Officer was back in cockpit. At the least I should have remembered to tell him when he returned. The bathroom swap out and its distractions is not good time to rebalance fuel!

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

A boeing 737 captain reported a fuel imbalance condition which was the result of fuel crossfeed mismanagement and an intra cockpit communication breakdown. The situation was corrected and an uneventful landing was accomplished.