A319
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Other / Unknown
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action; General Maintenance Action; General Flight Cancelled / Delayed
Weather; Aircraft
Everything was going great for this flight. I timed my sleep excellent and had about 4 hours of good; uninterrupted sleep. The crew I was assigned with was friendly and professional. The van was even on time. All was going well. Upon arrival at the airport; I ate with the rest of the crew and we walked to the gate. We walked onboard early and the First Officer began his walk-around. Boarding had commenced on schedule. We were doing great and had time to spare. And then; all of a sudden; a ground crew member called the flight deck: 'ground to cockpit!?' 'Yes' I replied. 'Captain! There is a leak on the left side of the aircraft.' The First Officer asked if he could have a look. I said 'sure- have at it!' He disappeared for about 2 minutes when I noticed him running up the gate stair way; well pressed high visibility vest donned brightly. 'Dude- There is a huge fuel leak'. I walked down to look and sure enough; a glossy river had emerged from the left wingtip vent tank and had strewn its kerosene- esque self from under the wing to well behind the aircraft. I was NOT going to conduct my HF radio check on this ramp; anytime soon. I marched up to the ticket counter and kindly requested that the gate agent conduct a slow; orderly deplaning process. This was NOT an emergency; however I wanted to do my best to comply with company procedures. The fire brigade; complete with O2 tanks; full battle gear and 4 full size trucks made themselves available immediately along with about 20 other workers who scattered what looked like dirt on the ground and cleaned up the spill. We were still short 1;300 LBS of fuel. I called Maintenance and told them what happened. Maintenance Control; agreed that we needed to put something in the maintenance logbook. So we did; exactly to his dictation. It went something to the tune of 'While fueling; left wing began leaking fuel from left [wingtip] tank vent. We now have an open maintenance item; which requires a corrective action. As we spoke back and forth; the on site Maintenance attempted to re-fuel after a series of over the phone (in Spanish) trouble shooting via circuit breaker pulls and computer resets. They attempted to fuel again but as my notoriously bad luck would have it; the leak continued and the fire brigade made themselves readily available again along with the 20 other workers donning blue high visibility jumpsuits. Maintenance eventually MEL'd the Fuel High Level shutoff system (I forget the actual title; but for the purpose of this safety report; this should work). I was issued amendments from Dispatch (new time; fuel quantity and MEL added) Maintenance cleared us to depart along with Dispatch after the paperwork was issued. This took almost 2+ hours or more to complete. Finally; as we received our blessing from Dispatch and Maintenance Control; we would run the gauntlet of uplifts (I think we lost 120 gallons on the spill) cockpit flows and appropriate checklists. We called Ground for pushback and engine start clearance to be met with 'HOLD POSITION'. So we did. About 5 minutes went by in silence when I requested the reason for the delay; I was acknowledged with a firm 'STANDBY'. I was then asked; 'Captain; what is the reason for the delay?' I responded; 'Fuel spill and associated Maintenance'. They then cleared me to push back but advised me not to start engines. So I did. I elected to have the push back crew stay attached to the aircraft in the event something else decided to go horribly wrong. ATC called again; this time sounding a bit more firm and advised 'You must contact your company representative and let them know that they need to produce documentation to the [La Dirección General de Aviación Civil] DGAC briefing office and advised that they (DGAC); needed to conduct an inspection of the aircraft.' In any other scenario; at any other airport; I would have called Operations and explained this myself. This was not an option today; as the operations frequency was inoperative. I then decided to ask the person who was pushing the aircraft back if he knew the Operations Agent for our company. He said 'yes' and we arranged for him to get out to the aircraft and speak with me directly. Minutes later; a man in red and blue scurried from under the gate area to where we were pushed back. When he arrived; 10-15 minutes later; he then told me that I had made a huge mistake (in certain tones and other words). I should have never told ATC that we had a maintenance issue. I should have just stated that there was an isolated fuel leak. Basically; I was being asked to change my story to a local authority. I felt uncomfortable with this but was assured by him that this is a very simple thing and it is how things are done here. So; I did what anyone else would do and told ground that the reason for the delay was due to fueling and a small (120 gallons estimated via fuel reasonability check) leak. During this process; I kept Dispatch and Maintenance in the loop via my cell phone. We were cleared for engine start and taxi. I bid them 'adios' and departed. We were cleared on course; hours behind schedule. Our route of flight would take us over Kingston Center's airspace. I remembered that they had been having radio issues with regards to transmitting and receiving. I called 3 minutes prior to the FIR per the enroute chart; with no luck. Eventually we entered their airspace. I continued to call on all of their frequencies; even on guard 121.5. Finally; he responded with 'Cleared direct ATUVI'. Direct ATUVI would put us toe to toe with a big line of thunderstorms. Penetration of this weather was not an option; so I requested deviations; east of track; 40 miles. We were heavy; so climbing was not an option. Radio silence. There was no way of contacting Kingston. I tried every one of their frequencies including guard 121.5. At this point I made a decision (along with my First Officer who concurred) to exercise PIC authority and begin a deviation in accord with the ICAO Weather Deviation Contingency plan. I turned my lights on as to be more visible and made position reports in the blind so that other aircraft in the area could hear me (and they did). I even called HAVANA approximately 15 minutes prior to the FIR as to advise them that I would NOT be over ATUVI but will be checking my position ABEAM ATUVI due weather deviation. She acknowledged with; 'Roger. Report abeam ATUVI; maintain FL360'. Separation was always maintained and I never saw a TCAS target. Eventually; on 121.5 I was able to reach Kingston who was able to issue a clearance as follows: 'Fly direct UVA and call Havana on 120.55 abeam ATUVI'. In total; the deviation was 40-50 miles to the east of ATUVI. Operations ground radio does not work and created a communication issued between Operations and the flight crew.
A319 Captain is informed of a fuel leak from the left wingtip vent during refueling. Passengers are deplaned and eventually the left wingtip tank Fuel High Level Shutoff System is MELed and the flight departs. Lost comm in Kingston FIR results in a weather deviation without clearance.