[stevepeg]

That’s good lateral thinking :)

Given that the aircraft can be landed over max landing weight (needs a maintenance inspection) and is still controllable with total imbalance I’d say that balancing just wasn’t as pressing of a concern.

Also, with that much damage you never really know where else it could be leaking. Leaking fuel into critical spaces of the aircraft could be bad so turning on the fuel crossfeed might add extra issues.