How to deal with fuel leak (after being hit)?

[Usagi]

I haven't found any guide how to deal with this kind of damage.

I got hit, left wing had leak and left wing pump failure light went off.

The fuel went somewhat imbalance, right side being less than left side. As I wasn't sure what to do, I pulled FILL DISABLE of R wing and R main tanks and opened TK GATE, turned CROSS FEED on.

It seemed that this balanced the fuel load but I am not sure whether this was just coincidence (image of fuel meter some time after this).

The visual leak effect stayed all the way to the base (some 80nm).

The correct procedure would have been?

[Wespe]

22 часа назад, Usagi сказал:

CROSS FEED on

I sure the cross feed should be off, for prevent leak from the another tank

[BIGNEWY]

just a reminder please do not post real world documents here

#rule 1.16 

[Mike Busutil]

On 3/24/2026 at 2:30 PM, Wespe said:

I sure the cross feed should be off, for prevent leak from the another tank

You may be thinking of "Fuel Transfer". As I understand the fuel system, the cross feed in the A-10C does not pump fuel into the leaking wing tank. It connects the left and right fuel systems so that the boost pumps can supply fuel to both engines from the remaining good side (or whichever side has pressure), but it does not transfer or fill fuel from one tank system into the other. Setting the Cross feed switch to CROSSFEED opens valves that link the two systems downstream of the tanks. This allows pressurized fuel (from the boost pumps) to reach both engines regardless of which side the fuel originates from.

[Mike Busutil]

On 3/23/2026 at 3:54 PM, Usagi said:

I haven't found any guide how to deal with this kind of damage.

I got hit, left wing had leak and left wing pump failure light went off.

The fuel went somewhat imbalance, right side being less than left side. As I wasn't sure what to do, I pulled FILL DISABLE of R wing and R main tanks and opened TK GATE, turned CROSS FEED on.

It seemed that this balanced the fuel load but I am not sure whether this was just coincidence (image of fuel meter some time after this).

The visual leak effect stayed all the way to the base (some 80nm).

The correct procedure would have been?

 

 

 

Standard Emergency Procedure for Low Fuel Pressure or Fuel Leak

1. Cross feed switch: CROSSFEED position. This allows fuel from the opposite side to supply the affected engine/system and may help identify or mitigate the issue.
2. If the caution light(s) do not extinguish:
   • Set the Cross feed switch back to OFF.
   • Monitor fuel quantities closely to confirm a leak (one side decreasing faster than normal consumption or imbalance developing).
3. If a leak is confirmed:
   • Set the affected engine throttle to OFF.
   • Pull the fire T-handle for the affected engine (this isolates the engine and shuts off fuel flow to it).
4. If the leak continues from the left system:
   • Set the left boost pump switches to OFF (this includes main and wing boost pumps).
5. If the leak continues from the right system:
   • Set the right boost pump switches to OFF.
6. Set the SAS (Stability Augmentation System) switches to OFF (as a final step to reduce potential complications with the degraded fuel system)
7. Wing boost pump failure (L or R WING BOOST PUMP caution): The wing tank fuel may stop transferring normally until below ~600 lb remaining, which can worsen imbalance. Use CROSSFEED to help equalize tanks. If transfer becomes too rapid (risking further issues), pull the Fill Disable switches for the affected tanks to limit unwanted fuel movement.
8. Fuel imbalance: Terminate tactical maneuvering if imbalance exceeds limits. Investigate and correct if possible (cross feed) otherwise, plan for a straight-in or low-workload recovery profile. Data link fuel readouts do not reliably show wing tank balance.
9. Declare an emergency and divert as needed.

Note the TK GATE Switch (Tank Gate) does allow fuel transfer but it is only for the fuselage tanks. 

• The A-10C has four internal fuel tanks: left wing, right wing, left main (forward fuselage), and right main (aft fuselage).
• The TK GATE switch (on the fuel system control panel) controls a valve that connects the left main tank and right main tank.
• OPEN position: Opens the gate valve, allowing fuel to transfer (primarily by gravity/pressure) between the two main tanks. This can help correct a fuel imbalance between the left and right main tanks.
• CLOSE position: Isolates the two main tanks from each other (normal position).
• It only affects the main (fuselage) tanks, not the wing tanks. The wing tanks feed forward into the mains via their own boost pumps, but the TK GATE has no direct effect on wing-to-main or wing-to-wing transfer.