USAF airman spots leak on civilian flight

[Gerard M]

Airman spots aircraft fuel leak at 35,000 feet

by Tech. Sgt. Rey Ramon
18th Wing Public Affairs

5/14/2009 - KADENA AIR BASE, Japan (AFNS) -- Most of us hear stories of Airmen saving lives in combat, but an Airman who saves the lives of more than 300 passengers is definitely a story worth hearing.

A fuel leak on a civilian aircraft caught the attention of Staff Sgt. Bartek Bachleda, 909th Air Refueling Squadron boom operator, during a flight from Chicago to Narita airport, Japan. After alerting the pilots and aircrew, the ranking pilot made the decision to divert the flight to San Francisco.

"I noticed the leak on the left side of the aircraft right behind the wing earlier during take-off," said Sergeant Bachleda.

Sergeant Bachleda continued analyzing the outflow of fuel to be 100 percent sure it was a leak while the plane was reaching cruising altitude. Almost an hour into the flight, he told a stewardess of the possible leak, but was given an unconcerned response.

Sergeant Bachleda then began to capture the possible leak on video. He then got the stewardess' attention by saying, "Ma'am it's an emergency." He identified himself to her and showed her the leak on video.

"She was completely serious and was no longer handing out drinks," he said. "I told her you need to inform your captain before we go oceanic."

The captain came from the cockpit to where Sergeant Bachleda was sitting to see the leak and view the video footage. Sergeant Bachleda said the captain and the crew were trying to figure out how the aircraft was losing 6,000 pounds of fuel an hour and then they knew exactly what was going on.

The captain made a mid-air announcement the flight would be diverted back to Chicago, but then changed it to San Francisco so passengers could catch the only existing flight to Narita airport.

Once the flight arrived in San Francisco, Sergeant Bachleda and a coworker were asked to stay back while the aircraft was deplaned. They waited for the arrival of investigators, the fire chief, and the owner of the airport to explain what went wrong.

"When we got off the airplane everyone was thanking us," said the sergeant.

While conversing with the captain, the sergeant said he was hesitant at first to inform them about the leak, but he knew it was abnormal. The captain said they would have never made it to Japan if it wasn't for him.

The two Airmen were placed in a hotel overnight and flew back to Japan the next morning. The airline company showed their appreciation by seating them first-class.

Picture in link.

http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123149266

[Torin Wilson]

I notice 2 holes in that story.

First -
Once the flight arrived in San Francisco, Sergeant Bachleda and a coworker were asked to stay back while the aircraft was deplaned. They waited for the arrival of investigators, the fire chief, and the owner of the airport to explain what went wrong.

The owner on an airport went out to meet it (presumably that is SFO so no small airport)

And second -
Sergeant Bachleda said the captain and the crew were trying to figure out how the aircraft was losing 6,000 pounds of fuel an hour and then they knew exactly what was going on.
--------
The captain said they would have never made it to Japan if it wasn't for him.

If they knew they were randomly losing 6,000 pounds of fuel an hour and they couldn't stop it, then they'd know it wouldn't make it to Japan with the fuel level dropping so fast - so the comment seems very strange.

[Gerard M]

I was going to say it was really strange the pilots "didn't know" how they were loosing so much fuel and that only after the passenger pointed it out that they realized they weren't going to make it!
I'd say, after i have read it again, its more than likely that the article has been beefed up a little.
Still any idea what might cause a leak like that?

[Robert Zweck]

Originally Posted by Gerard M

I was going to say it was really strange the pilots "didn't know" how they were losing so much fuel

That struck me too.

If I was the skipper, I would have sent my FO back into the cabin and in the most discreet manner possible have a look at the wings. Maybe getting an FA to do it first, to look for anything obvious

Trying hard not to alarm the pax

Having Tech Crew with a " concerned " face walking thru the cabin is not a good look.

[Andrew M]

This story was probably translated from Japanese to English so that may explain some of the "interesting" wording/structure.

I am pretty certain that if the Captain knew he was losing 3000 litres of fuel an hour he wouldn't have continued the flight. Well I hope so anyway!

[Gavin Otto]

Have a look at Air Transat Flight 236 where the pilots did not recognise that there was a fuel leak and the A330 became the "Azores Glider".

[Phillippe M]

Made it on news.com.au today!!

http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/...014090,00.html