Airbus 318/319/320/321 Undifferentiated
Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural MEL / CDL; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Hazardous Material Violation; Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action; General Work Refused; General Maintenance Action
Procedure; Aircraft; Company Policy; Human Factors
My First Officer and I were getting our airplane ready for departure. While on aircraft; we experienced an extensive fuel leak. For the next 40 minutes we dealt with a high stress situation having 100+ gallons of fuel spill under the aircraft. After talking with my Dispatcher; he agreed to find us a new aircraft. As I was doing my pre-flight duties [on the replacement aircraft]; I noticed the aircraft had 4 MEL'S and 1 CDL. It's unfortunately not uncommon to have a long list of MEL's at [this company]. I spent the next 15 minutes looking through every MEL and CDL. I was aware of the follow-up required on CDL 52 but misinterpreted the actions required by Maintenance. I made sure the dispatch release included the takeoff and en-route weight penalties as well as an increased fuel consumption of 0.64% as stated to do under Operations Procedures. While looking at the maintenance procedures; it has them deactivate the forward cargo compartment door access panel. The follow-up required (FR) was to make sure all latching hooks are checked latched and locked before each flight. When the ramp agent came up with the final paperwork; I had him look and make sure the door was secured and the latching hooks were checked latched. I believed that I was following all duties required by this CDL. It wasn't until I got to [destination airport] that I looked further back in the logbook and noticed that there were multiple FRs done by maintenance personnel. I then called Dispatch and Maintenance to verify and they stated that it should have been done by a mechanic in [departure airport]. A couple contributing factors was stress from the prior airplane having an excessive fuel leak; an aircraft swap; multiple deferrals on the new aircraft; and being behind schedule for a 'head start flight'. One more factor that led me to believe the FR was supposed to be by the flight crew; and not Maintenance was our ability to get an AWP. Vol 1 25.20 states: When a Maintenance FR is required; the AWP will be locked out and crews will contact Dispatch through their responsible Dispatcher. We were able to get AWP data with no problem. This led us to believe that we were doing everything correctly. From now on; anytime I have an aircraft with a FR; I will contact Dispatch and or Maintenance Control to verify the correct action to be taken with the MEL/CDL.
Airbus A320 series Captain reported a fuel leak prior to departure and a maintenance item that was missed as a esult.