USAF Airman Spots Fuel Leak on UA ORD-NRT Flight

[Matt Molnar]

Wired:

Airman Spots Jetliner’s Fuel Leak At 35,000 Feet

Staff Sgt. Bartek Bachleda knew something was amiss almost immediately after the jetliner left Chicago.

He’d looked out the window and saw what he thought was a fuel leak. He’d know, because he’s a boom operator with the 909th Air Refueling Station based at Kadena Air Base in Japan. That’s where he was headed. He was one of 300 people aboard the flight bound for Narita.

Still, he wanted to be sure, so he kept close watch on the situation. After an hour, he was convinced the plane had a serious problem. He alerted the flight attendant, who appeared unconcerned. He started filming the leak. No one knew it at the time, but the plane was losing 6,000 pounds of fuel an hour. He showed the flight attendant the video.

“Ma’am, it’s an emergency,” he told her after identifying himself, according to the U.S. Air Force. “You need to inform the captain before we go oceanic.” [Full Article]

[Nick]

Way to go, SSgt!

[DHG750R]

That was the dump valve on the Left wing. Good catch !

[MarkLawrence]

Glad he saw that! Could have been a sad ending! However, how come the crew didn't see the fuel loss - they lost a lot of fuel - I would have thought the FMC would have warned them.

[PhilDernerJr]

They might not have received a warning, but them or a dispatcher would (should) have noticed something when they report their remaining fuel during a position report. I assume they hadn't given one yet?

[Matt Molnar]

According to another article, the crew realized the plane was losing an extra 6,000 lbs of fuel an hour but they didn't couldn't figure out why until SSgt Bachleda showed them.

It could have ended badly, but if they were somewhere between Chicago and San Fran at the time, they still had a few more hours over land. I think (hope) they'd have figured it out and diverted to Anchorage or something by then.

[USAF Pilot 07]

Yea, I'm guessing the crew would have diverted before starting the trip across the Pacific even if they hadn't pinpointed the cause of their excessive fuel "consumption" by then.
Good on the airman for recognizing the fuel venting and alerting the crew to it!