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Airbus captain discovered during climbout that the left wing was heavy and found the right inner tank fuel quantity to be zero on the fuel page. Emergency was declared and flight returned to their departure airport.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 835531 |
| Time | |
| Date | 200905 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Airbus Industrie Undifferentiated or Other Model |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Climb |
| Route In Use | Direct |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Pilot Not Flying Captain |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 75 Flight Crew Total 18600 Flight Crew Type 3600 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Deviation - Procedural Weight And Balance Deviation - Procedural FAR Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue |
Narrative:
Climbing out I first noticed the control wheel displacing right about 2 units. I started checking the ECAM pages; first I zeroed all trim settings and found indeed the left wing was heavy. I turned off the autothrottles and matched power. Next I looked at the doors page; then went to the fuel page and saw that the right inner tank was reading zero. It was the first officers leg so at this time I took control of the aircraft and called for the checklist. While the first officer was working through the checklist I called center and requested a return to our departure airport and declared an emergency. Landing for the most part was normal except for the very heavy left wing due to a gross fuel imbalance.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Airbus Captain discovered during climbout that the left wing was heavy and found the right inner tank fuel quantity to be zero on the fuel page. Emergency was declared and flight returned to their departure airport.
Narrative: Climbing out I first noticed the control wheel displacing right about 2 units. I started checking the ECAM pages; first I zeroed all trim settings and found indeed the left wing was heavy. I turned off the autothrottles and matched power. Next I looked at the doors page; then went to the fuel page and saw that the right inner tank was reading zero. It was the First Officers leg so at this time I took control of the aircraft and called for the checklist. While the First Officer was working through the checklist I called Center and requested a return to our departure airport and declared an emergency. Landing for the most part was normal except for the very heavy left wing due to a gross fuel imbalance.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.