I wondered if you might shed more light on an incident that happened yesterday at the Houston Airport.
As our very fully loaded plane was in line for take-off....very close to engaging the engines....
...the captain came on and told us another plane had spotted a 'door' open around the fuel tank, and they would need someone to close it.
A few minutes later, he said they couldn't close it there, but would have to taxi back to the terminal.
After 20, 25 minutes of silence, we finally lined up again....(this time way in back of the pack)...and took off.
The airplane seemed to gain momentum, but leveled off shortly after....then proceeded to resume climbing.
Is this normal stuff.....or is my imagination runnning overtime?
I suspect it was simply they didn't get it latched securely after
fueling so it popped open during taxi. They wouldn't be able to close it
and check for a functioning latch on the taxi line. Return to the terminal was prudent.
Bet some "fuel technician" caught hell.