B767-300 and 300 ER
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport; General Maintenance Action
Aircraft; Procedure
Aircraft had not flown in 5 days and had multiple discrepancies that were found by pilots and flight attendants delaying the departure by over 2 hours. On departure; received a L ENG FUEL FILT message on the EICAS. [Relief Officer] ran the checklist as we asked to be vectored by ATC as we ran checklists; communicated with dispatch; flight attendants; passengers and ATC. We were 60;000 lbs over max landing weight so we put the flaps to 20 degrees and the gear down to begin to burn down the fuel. We ran the checklist for ENGINE FUEL FILTER which stated 'Plan to land at the nearest suitable airport'. Because the checklist also referenced the possibility of an engine flameout due to fuel contamination the decision was made to not dump fuel and to land the airplane sooner rather than later in an overweight condition. We ran the Overweight Landing checklist that directed us to land flaps 25 due to our Flaps 30 approach speed (162 kts) being within 10 kts of the flap placard speed of 170 kts. The [relief officer] reviewed the landing distance and determined it would be 6;400 feet for a landing weight of 367;000 lbs. We elected to use the longest runway and utilized the visual approach backed up by the LOC instrument approach. No autobrakes were selected and it was a very soft touchdown by the captain. Brakes were not applied until below 60 kts with 2;000 feet remaining. We cleared the runway and stopped to have the brake temperatures inspected by the ARFF. (the parking brake was not set during the inspection) After the inspection was completed and we were certain there was no danger to the aircraft the ARFF were cleared from around the aircraft and we continued our taxi to our gate.
At rotation observed L ENG FUEL FILTER ICAS message; notified company; briefed Flight Attendant (FA) and passengers; accomplished all QRH required and appropriate checklists; performed and overweight landing at departure airport. Landed without further events.
A B767-300 flight crew experiences a L ENG FUEL FILT message on the EICAS just after liftoff. The QRH procedure for this message states 'land at the nearest suitable airport'. The crew elects to return to the departure airport for an overweight landing.