Narrative:

We received this aircraft after it had broken two days ago. The problem was a fuel leak coming from one of the sumps that had created streaks of fuel and siphoned enough out that it had gone into the tail and was dripping out of a drain hole in the tail during postflight inspection. It was also leaking out of the sump which according to the log was cleaned and re-seated to fix the problem. I checked the tail area carefully and looked over the sump. Everything appeared to be in good and airworthy status with no signs of leaks. The problem happened after the second leg of the day and knew that we were supposed to reposition the ship for a flight for the next day. I started cleaning the cabin and the captain did his postflight inspection and was going to open up the fuel door so that we could get fuel. When he went to the tail he noticed some dripping coming off of the tail skid. Since none of the rest of the aircraft had condensation he looked more carefully. It turns out that the same exact problem had occurred again. The sump under the right wing was dripping fuel; there were streaks down the fuselage and the tail skid was dripping fuel from inside the tail. The captain called me out of the aircraft to have a look and I confirmed his prognosis. He called maintenance control and described the problem thoroughly while I listened. The captain was told something to the effect of 'you guys are already supposed to ferry to the next airport; can you just ferry it there because cessna has maintenance workers there already due to another broken encore'. The captain did not hesitate to say no to this request. He said that maintenance control sounded annoyed that he wasn't willing to do this flight.this aircraft not only had a fuel leak that is dripping from the wing but also has an unknown quantity in the tail actively dripping. Maintenance control was advised of all of this and still thought nothing of asking the crew to ferry the aircraft to another location where maintenance was more convenient. It is my sincere hope that the report reviewer will be as concerned as I that maintenance control (not this individual) thinks that this is acceptable behavior. Operations has the role of trying to keep the operation moving and maintenance control should be concerned with the continued airworthiness of the aircraft and the coordination of maintenance for aircraft that need it. Maintenance control should not be trying to 'push pilots' to do things that are illegal and contrary to safety. I told my partner to tell maintenance control; if he asked again; that I would be happy to ferry the aircraft to the next airport. If they could just get the FAA to sign off on a 'ferry permit'; I would be happy to take it for maintenance wherever they thought it was safe to bring an aircraft with an active fuel leak.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: After rediscovering a chronic fuel leak during a walkaround; the flight crew of a CE750 felt pushed by maintenance managers to ferry the aircraft to a more convenient location for maintenance.

Narrative: We received this aircraft after it had broken two days ago. The problem was a fuel leak coming from one of the sumps that had created streaks of fuel and siphoned enough out that it had gone into the tail and was dripping out of a drain hole in the tail during postflight inspection. It was also leaking out of the sump which according to the log was cleaned and re-seated to fix the problem. I checked the tail area carefully and looked over the sump. Everything appeared to be in good and airworthy status with no signs of leaks. The problem happened after the second leg of the day and knew that we were supposed to reposition the ship for a flight for the next day. I started cleaning the cabin and the Captain did his postflight inspection and was going to open up the fuel door so that we could get fuel. When he went to the tail he noticed some dripping coming off of the tail skid. Since none of the rest of the aircraft had condensation he looked more carefully. It turns out that the same exact problem had occurred again. The sump under the right wing was dripping fuel; there were streaks down the fuselage and the tail skid was dripping fuel from inside the tail. The Captain called me out of the aircraft to have a look and I confirmed his prognosis. He called Maintenance Control and described the problem thoroughly while I listened. The Captain was told something to the effect of 'you guys are already supposed to ferry to the next airport; can you just ferry it there because Cessna has maintenance workers there already due to another broken Encore'. The Captain did not hesitate to say NO to this request. He said that Maintenance Control sounded annoyed that he wasn't willing to do this flight.This aircraft not only had a fuel leak that is dripping from the wing but also has an unknown quantity in the tail actively dripping. Maintenance Control was advised of all of this and STILL thought nothing of asking the crew to ferry the aircraft to another location where maintenance was more convenient. It is my sincere hope that the report reviewer will be as concerned as I that Maintenance Control (not this individual) thinks that this is acceptable behavior. Operations has the role of trying to keep the operation moving and Maintenance Control should be concerned with the continued airworthiness of the aircraft and the coordination of maintenance for aircraft that need it. Maintenance Control should not be trying to 'push pilots' to do things that are ILLEGAL and CONTRARY TO SAFETY. I told my partner to tell Maintenance Control; if he asked again; that I would be happy to ferry the aircraft to the next airport. If they could just get the FAA to sign off on a 'Ferry Permit'; I would be happy to take it for maintenance wherever they thought it was safe to bring an aircraft with an active FUEL LEAK.

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.