EASA Asks Airlines To Replace Some Airbus A320 Fuel Pumps

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The European Union Aviation Safety Agency, better known as EASA, has issued an Airworthiness Directive (AD) concerning the fuel pumps of a wide range of A320 family aircraft. Citing the risk of fuel tank explosion, the issue affects aircraft ranging from the A318-100 right through to the A321neo. EASA is warning all operators of affected types of a “potential quality issue on an affected part.” The AD was issued on April 23rd and concerns aircraft manufactured before June 30th, 2015.

This issue affects all four variants of the A320 family, including both NEO and ‘CEO’ iterations. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

What is the problem exactly?

According to EASA, a “potential quality issue on an affected part” has been identified. In this situation, the locking key of the impeller drive shaft was found loose in the cavity under the impeller. The AD goes on to state a possible, very serious consequence of the issue if left unaddressed:

“This condition, if not corrected, could, in case of operating a pump while not fully immersed in fuel, create an ignition source in the fuel tank, possibly resulting in a fuel tank explosion and consequent loss of the aeroplane.”

Beyond all three major US airlines, numerous smaller carriers in the US operate substantial Airbus A320 Family fleets. Of course, this also extends to aircraft in other parts of the world. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

Which aircraft are affected?

EASA states that this issue affects aircraft that have a date of manufacture before June 30th, 2015. Unfortunately, this potentially covers a very wide range of A320 Family variants, as noted by EASA:

Airbus A318-111, A318-112, A318-121, A318-122, A319-111, A319-112, A319-113, A319-114, A319-115, A319-131, A319-132, A319-133, A319-151N, A319-153N, A319-171N, A320-211, A320-212, A320-214, A320-215, A320-216, A320-231, A320-232, A320-233, A320-251N, A320-252N, A320-253N, A320-271N, A320-272N, A320-273N, A321-111, A321-112, A321-131, A321-211, A321-212, A321-213, A321-231, A321-232, A321-251N, A321-251NX, A321-252N, A321-252NX, A321-253N, A321-253NX, A321-271N, A321-271NX, A321-272N and A321-272NX aircraft.

While all manufacturer serial numbers of these aircraft types are included in the AD, the specific fuel pump needing replacement is limited. In this case, the Part Number (P/N) is listed as P99C38-605, with the issue extending to a list of just over 100 serial numbers. Those numbers are listed in Appendix 1 of the EASA AD.

Thus, with a relatively small list of fuel pump serial numbers affected, this issue doesn’t appear to be as widespread as the long list of possibly affected variants might indicate.

United Airlines has 93 Airbus A319-100s in its fleet. It also operates 95 A320-200s. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

EASA’s AD requires the replacement of affected parts while also prohibiting their reinstallation. Certain maintenance-related actions are prohibited as well, pending the replacement of affected parts.

For its part, Airbus has identified the list of parts possibly affected and issued fuel pump replacement instructions via an AOT (All Operators Telex).

Action must be taken within 10 days or 50 flight cycles after the effective date of the AD (April 27th), whichever occurs later.

As this article is written with the intent to summarize the situation, some finer details have been excluded in the interest of simplicity and readability. For those interested in reading the full airworthiness directive, it can be found on EASA’s website by clicking here.



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