United Airlines Fuel Leak At 30,000 Feet Captured Video

[slimjim440]

This is not that big of a deal.....6,000 lbs of fuel an hour?! Do you know how much fuel these jets carry?

[LateNightCable]

That's not as unnerving as looking out the window and seeing the flap track fairing vibrating so hard it looks like it's about to fly off. I saw that on a regional jet once, slightly freaky.

[jimmywacked]

Nearest Suitable airport is NOT SFO. Why travel all the way to your company base. ? Unless Captain thinks leaking fuel is NOT an emergnecy, I'd take it to SEATAC or PDX to get it fixed, instead of dumping fuel for 2-3 more hours. I dont get that at all...!

[MrMyking2]

I also know that this happened on a Concorde before (no one was injured)\

[Daedalus294]

@ 1BassJohn

Why thank you sir, respect.

[xxtwr1]

The passenger did well. The crew cannot see that portion of the wing, so by the time they would have noticed fuel consumption, and completed the check lists for determining what the problem might be, a piss pot full of kerosene would be toast. The passenger did right.

[blong360]

fuel management panel wouldve indicated they were losing fuel faster than usual.

[Daedalus294]

I hate both CNN and FOX News along with Headline News. such bullshit. all of it. the only news that is told is that , what the shareholders want to hear. i dont give a shit about this anymore. its either BBC for me or Al Jazeera English, who have less of the bs.

[1BassJohn]

@Daedalus294 Very well said!!

[USAFThunderBirdsFtw]

Its not a god damn fuel leak... Its a fuel dump, because they were overweight on landing preparations.

[xxtwr1]

@USAFThunderBirdsFtw 35 years in aviation and I've never seen an aircraft need to dump fuel at a planned destination, especially when they are only 1/3 of the way there. Think man before thou speaks. Fuel dumps are needed when overweight because you need to land early due to an emergency. Like Swiss Air. Why does Youtube have so many backyard professors.

[USAFThunderBirdsFtw]

@xxtwr1 Okay, well obviously I've worded my response wrong... Due to some emergency the plane fuel dumped while getting ready for a unplanned landing? Maybe that is why the pilots and crew said they were already aware of the situation. Sorry but not every time is the news correct, and they do exaggerate, and backyard professors? You've gotta be kidding me. I'm trying to learn about planes and using my knowledge to help others, sorry if I was wrong, but that is my belief on what happened.

[xxtwr1]

@USAFThunderBirdsFtw Okay, your point is taken.  I wish you well in your study of Aviation. It is a field barely understood properly by the media, even after the 100th anniversary.

[USAFThunderBirdsFtw]

@xxtwr1 Yeah, the media stretches what actually happens just to get better "ratings" thats all they care about.

[1950Viper]

Fuel dump due to overweight conditions.



[R5H4D0W]

@1950Viper this is true, but there would be no way the gauges would not have indicated something was admiss.... and if it was overweight they could have took a dump during hold during contact with Tokyo ground.

[xxtwr1]

@1950Viper  Overweight 1/3 into the flight? Send your pilots license back to Kellogg's.

[pdogone1]

haha must have been no news that day... one of the most important responsibilties for the captain and crew is fuel monitoring...just from flying a 747 sim on my pc an eicas is always set for viewing the fuel flow...im sure the passenger was being helpful and it should have ended there. anyone know what casued the fuel loss?

[rock853okg]

you don't have to be in the military to notice this this stupid.

[demonhorizon]

spark...erm..enough said.

[TheZav88]

Fuel levels are monitored closely all throughout the flight. The pilots have printouts that tell them how much fuel they are supposed to have at what waypoint, etc. The pilot probably knew about it or would have noticed it pretty soon anyway.

[KroMeInStInCt]

I dont think Al Gore likes this.

[Judyiack]

Big deal. What's scary is there was only one person who realized that leak.

[atrain910]

one little over sight, that fuel consumption is closely watched so regardless of weather or not anyone saw a leak..... the fuel loss would have been and can be tracked (calculated) every minute , this technique is used wide spread through aviation that way an accurate burn out time or fuel usage can be monitored, so no real threat ever really existed, unless it was hit by lightning LMAO

[Christianpaul71]

we had our plane lose fuel and show flames over the ocean. eventually had to return.

[planecrazy101ya]

WTF "Bartek Baklada..." ??????????

[incheon]

I meant wing not wind sorry typo...

[hhds113]

Sounds like a damn math problem on a test. A typical 747 holds 372,000 lbs of fuel. If a United Airlines flight was flying at an altitude of 30,000 ft. going from Chicago to Tokyo and losing 6,000 lbs of fuel per hour and takes about 13 hours to get there, how much fuel would be left over?

[AirCanada04]

It is so hilarious how news reporters have NOT A SINGLE DAMN CLUE, on how an airplane works. How can they be this daft?

[englandish43]

The wingtip of a Boeing 747-400 can only be seen by first getting out of your seat and craning your neck out the back of the side window in the cockpit.

[Jsd8675]

Do they think the pilot has a mirror?

[yynnmmbb]

The pilot could have eventually seen the spray behind them in his rear view mirror .. no ?

[grulloc]

news reporters are idiots... that's all I got to say

[luckyPierre777]

Although this video is dramatic and makes a great news story this event would have absolutely been detected and monitored by the flight crew. The fuel appears in the video to be discharging from the fuel dump nozzle which is located outboard the engines near the wingtip. There is no mention of whether there is fuel from the same nozzle on the other wing but it is unlikely. Probably a malfunction in one jettison pump/valve on the left wing. I'm sure the crew was absolutely aware of this.

[incheon]

@luckyPierre777 To me it kind of looked like it was coming out of the over flow vent which is under the wind, at speed it would seem like it's coming out of the nozzle. Not sure though.

[DynastyLang]

Why does a plane even need fuel? doesnt it just like run on wind power with the wings?

[huntergriffith1]

@DynastyLang Go blow on an airplane, and see how fast it gets up in the air. Fucking idiot.

[DynastyLang]

@huntergriffith1 lol im just fucking around, i know how planes work. :P

[X3ROX45]

Everything is a damn crisis on US news.

[pcfd20]

@X3ROX45 No kidding.. I just watched a "top" story about a male who had a partial sex change (tits) and his state would not change his sex status from male to female... Crap like that gets on my nerves with the news...... I could care less about that, i consider "top" story to be a building blowing up, some one declares war etc not a "I want my license to show female cause i have tits now" crap..

[stblclar]

American tv is such bullcrap. They are able do put a catastroph on every little technical problem, what a load of shit...

[GreenDay3213]

@stblclar

I dont think you realise that without fuel a plane cannot fly.... And if a plane is loosing fuel at 30000 feet and is almost headed over the ocean its a catastrophe

[madisonelectronic]

@stblclar Thank you for letting us know, ya french faggot.

[HDSporty4Me]

He's lucky he didn't wind up with a body cavity search in the bathroom by a US marshall.

[smaragona]

On a B747-400 if you have this situation,the pilots will know because they will have a message"IMB"meaning there is already an imbalance of fuel,the eicas will display which tandem tanks are having an imbalance...and of course the word from the scared passengers who witnessed the event!

[sakoshooter48]

@smaragona Really, tandem tanks. Methinks you haven't a clue. B747-422 tanks are #1 Reserve, #1 main, #2 main, Center main, #3 main, #4 main, and #4 Reserve. The fuel is coming from the overboard dump mast. THis isn't a leak, fucking pilot is dumping fuel through the fuel jettison system!

[LufthansaA343]

@sakoshooter48 haha shut up :D you got these from FSX. and this is a leak you moron :D if it was a dump, the fuel would have come out of a little tube. stop commenting you moron. and if this was not a damn leak, would the pilot have come outside? NO! and the pilots knew anyway cause if you loose fuel you get a warning system.

[sakoshooter48]

@LufthansaA343 Go kill yourself asshat!

[madisonelectronic]

@sakoshooter48 Twink.

[365ways]

@smaragona all modern eFIS aircraft have imbalance warnings

[40172]

Yeah, yeah, we knew about it, no problem! HAHAHA!

[formeliandialogue]

Eventualities likes these is why flight route planning has various alternate airports marked along the route.

[crockett616]

Yeah, they would have noticed this from the gauges, the news guys are over dramatizing this. Also, lol at them saying this type of plane holds this much fuel and basing their calculations on a passangers visual estimate of how much fuel was leaking. First, there is only going to be the required amount of fuel in the tanks so if its leaking its obviously going to be a problem. Second, no matter if the passanger works in aviation, he cant visually estimate the amount of fuel thats leaking.

[BobWeaver112]

@crockett616 Same thing I thought. I laughed when the reporter said "the passenger estimated..."

[melk1971]

This has happened on my flight a couple times. Had to turn back. No big deal. Looks worse than really is.

[SantaHul]

Pilot's can't even see the wing on a 747, never mind a fuel leak. Only one of the fuel tanks was leaking though and 747's have three fuel tanks. No danger here at all. And no the fuel would not have sparked and blown up the plane, that's just in the movies.

Don't quote me on this but I think 747-400's warn the pilot if fuel is being used up too fast. Either way they would have noticed eventually, and if they say the pilot already knew then it's quite likely he genuinely did.

[jlebesis]

Dont you love when he says 'Could this plane have run out of fuel..' at around 2:35 and then proceeds to dramatise the whole thing..like a good little sheep for the network. This leak would have been noted very quickly from inttrument warnings, and even then if not, the pilots would have saw that fuel rate was being used too quickly. Fuck I hate the news.

[Transane]

@jlebesis not to mention the couple other fuel tanks on board...

[Tressiensia]

@jlebesis Well it wont be exaggerated news if you were on it.

[sshero88]

Chicken Noodle Network <3

[djluigisantos]

CNN needs to watch their mouth. the people that have control of these aircraft and would have noticed the leak anyway if a fuel cosumption check had been performed, which they probably did

[Bsklarski]

I am sure the crew could see the leak by watching the gauges. Just because he is a boomer in the AF does not mean he is an expert at flying 747s. Leave that to the experts!

[Cellmate412162]

Another danger is that a stray spark or fire could have ignited the leaking fuel, causing the airliner to explode. Remember, it's not just space machinery that can explode.

[nathanfishing3000]

friendy skyes hahahahahaha funny its not

[halo2windows]

Why would they divert so far?

[KDAY24]

I agree. Why didn't they divert to Seattle Washington. You have Boeing Field right there!! and this was a Boeing aircraft! :-\

[halo2windows]

@KDAY24

SFO is a United's largest maintenance center...But why not Denver? It doesn't make sense

[simpsonstewie]

@halo2windows why would you waste money on building a maintenance center in Denver you already have everything going good in SF

[halo2windows]

@simpsonstewie

Denver already has a maintenance center because it is a major hub for connecting United passengers.

[mmerlet150]

How could he calculate just from seeing the leak that it was loosing 6,000 lbs an hour?

[pilotman088]

@mmerlet150 i know

[Mazza4Azza]

@mmerlet150

Dials in the cockpit maybe?

[pete5668]

@mmerlet150 he's an air force fuel fiend. he knows these things XD

[365ways]

@mmerlet150 if you are burning 2000 lbs per hour = 1000 lbs per engine on each side according to fuel flow indications ,now if in 15 minuttes you notice that 2500 lbs are gone it means 2500=1000+X, it means X= 1500 lbs/15 minuttes which means 4x15=60 minutes so 4x1500 lbs = 6000 lbs loss

[gamingassults]

so are evryone saying united shuld buy new aircrafts? the 744 isnt a old plane and a leak like this could appear with a aricraft that was on its first fligth.

[cathay464]

I think CNN should do more research first. that plane is flying to Narita, not Henada.

[poopsyproductions]

News people are ridiculous.

[volatino]

He's hot!

[mcgolord]

Maybe United should consider buying some new aircraft.

[serge933]

A 744 is quite new so why not learn before talking?

[mcgolord]

wow, calm down dude....I said it because United is the only major US airline without any aircraft orders....and i recently flew on a 744 on united to San Fran and we were delayed because they couldn't get the engines started.

So why don't you have a conversation instead of instantly assuming you know everything.

[serge933]

Alright, my bad, just used to poeple putting in stupid comments lately on youtube.

Anyway, thats gotta be pretty bad and id be quite worried on flying on a plane that couldnt get its engines started when they should have xD