Etiquette for Warning of Imminent Death

[kurohinge1]

[SIZE="4"]Air Force officer saves airliner with fuel leak[/SIZE]

A US Air Force officer says he had to video a fuel leak in the wing of the airliner he was on before a stewardess would believe him.

Staff Sergeant Bartek Bachleda has been hailed a hero after his keen eye and patient persistence 35,000 feet above the ground saved 300 passengers on board a flight from Chicago to Japan last week.

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

His first appeal to the flight attendant was met with ambivalence and the young sergeant didn't want to be rude, he told Air Force investigators.

"Ma'am it's an emergency," he said on his second approach after videoing the leak and identifying himself as an Air Force sergeant.

"She was completely serious and was no longer handing out drinks," Sergeant Bachleda said.

"I told her you need to inform your captain before we go oceanic."

The aircraft's captain came to inspect the footage, which explained why the plane was losing 2700 kilograms of fuel each hour.

The captain said the flight would be diverted back to Chicago, but then changed it to San Francisco so passengers could catch the only flight to Narita airport.

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

The captain told Sergeant Bachleda they would never have made it to Japan if he hadn't raised the alarm.

. . .

[leitmotiv]

....the captain thanks him but the airline remains mysteriously unnamed. JAL?

[Tsuru]

Nice job!

By the way: The plane was a 747-400 of United Airlines (clearly visible from the picture in the article).

[GuyJean]

....the captain thanks him but the airline remains mysteriously unnamed. JAL?

Is the color pattern on the wing United?

GJ

[Mike Oxlong]

"I told her you need to inform your captain before we go oceanic."

The aircraft's captain came to inspect the footage, which explained why the plane was losing 2700 kilograms of fuel each hour.

The captain said the flight would be diverted back to Chicago, but then changed it to San Francisco so passengers could catch the only flight to Narita airport.

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

The captain told Sergeant Bachleda they would never have made it to Japan if he hadn't raised the alarm.

So, this fuel loss was beyond normal? And, the pilot/co-pilot still were planning on pushing on for Japan until the Sarge pointed out the problem? The pilots were just going to risk it before receiving the footage? That don't sound right...

[Tsuru]

They were probably already on the horn to flight operations and maintenance as they have to check the actual fuel burned and actual fuel still present in the airplane with every waypoint passed to the values on their printed flightplan and calculated values in their FMS, and any discrepancy means there's a fault somewhere. I am willing to bet the flight would have diverted to SFO or returned to ORD anyway, sergeant or no sergeant.

The cabin crew's ambivalence could be explained by the fact that seepage from the fuel tank vents in the wingtips is quite common on a large plane with full tanks taking off, and has no doubt more than once lead to someone calling them over to voice their concern. If flight crews had to take every utterance of "something's not right", "what's that noise?" or "there's a hole in the wing!" seriously no airliner would ever leave the ground.

[Tsuru]

Having said that though, even I only know so much. A few years back I was on an Emirates A340-500 taking off from KIX for Dubai late at night, when about 5 minutes after takeoff I heard a loud growling noise from directly below where I was sitting, right in the middle of the airplane where most of its guts are. I know a thing or two about airplanes of course, but this even struck me as odd.

So I did the responsible thing and pushed the button for the FA. After a short while though the noise went away again, so I left it at that. After landing I was granted a visit to the flightdeck where the (American/British) crew explained to me that what I heard was most likely a device called a PTU, used to transfer energy from one hydraulic system to the other, and which tends to make this noise when it operates. So we had a good laugh about that and we said our goodbyes. You learn something new everyday!

[leitmotiv]

By the way: The plane was a 747-400 of United Airlines (clearly visible from the picture in the article).

Noted - Thanks.

Interesting that the fact was scrupulously avoided in the news text....maybe some legal reason?

[MeinJapanLongTime]

Air Force NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer).

Let's hear it for the Enlisted Corps!

[Kuang_Grade]

Well, its always good to make sure that the pilots know of something clearly unusual going on with the plane, because they might not know themselves or may be thinking it is something other than it actually is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kegworth_Air_Disaster

After an engine problem developed in the left side engine (ie, smoke, sparks), the pilots misdiagnosed the problem and apparently announced to the cabin that they turned off the bad engine on the right side (which was actually working correctly), and despite a more than a few passengers and likely cabin staff knowing the left engine was the engine having the problem, nobody said anything.

The bad engine, which was the only engine operating, failed as they were making their approach for an emergency landing...After the left engine caught on fire, the pilots realized their mistake, but it was too late....with no engines, the plane crashed just short of the runway.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helios_Airways_Flight_522

Similarly, I don't think the cabin staff or passengers told the pilots of Helios 522 that the oxygen masks had dropped in the cabin, which have been a another sign of depressurization and not some electrical fault in an indicator which was what the assumption the pilots were working under prior to passing out from lack of oxygen.

[GuyJean]

Wow. CNN is only 3 days late..

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/05/21/plane.leak/index.html

GJ