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posted by janrinok on Thursday January 16 2020, @03:23PM   Printer-friendly
from the plain-dumps-no-longer-what-they-used-to-be dept.

BBC

At least 60 people, many of them children, were treated for skin irritation and breathing problems.

Fuel may be dumped in emergency landings, but only over designated areas and at a high altitude, aviation rules stipulate.

The Delta Airlines flight returned to the airport due to an engine issue.

Delta confirmed in a statement that the passenger plane had released fuel to reduce its landing weight.

The children and adults treated following the dumping incident were connected with at least six local schools. All the injuries are said to be minor.
...
Allen Kenitzer, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, told Reuters news agency: "The FAA is thoroughly investigating the circumstances behind this incident. There are special fuel-dumping procedures for aircraft operating into and out of any major US airport.

"These procedures call for fuel to be dumped over designated unpopulated areas, typically at higher altitudes so the fuel atomises and disperses before it reaches the ground."

Business Traveler has other details

A Delta Air Lines Boeing 777-200 bound for Shanghai Pudong that was making an emergency landing dumped fuel on six schools in Los Angeles, mildly injuring 60 adults and children, according to media reports.
...
The students and staff members complained of minor skin irritation and breathing problems, but all declined transportation to hospitals, the newspaper added.
...
The Los Angeles Times reports that the plane flew north over Malibu within four minutes after takeoff at 11:32am (local time). After encountering an engine problem, the journey back to the airport, in which the airline said it dumped fuel over urban southeastern Los Angeles County, took a looping route over the San Fernando Valley. The flight, which never flew higher than 8,000 feet, then moved over Griffith Park not long after, heading into southeastern LA County. Minutes later, the flight began making its return to LAX, looping back west.

Flight tracking website FlightRadar24 posted an image on Twitter of the plane's flight path:

Flight path of flight #DL89 that returned to Los Angeles International Airport 24 minutes after departurehttps://t.co/JPER0N19p6 pic.twitter.com/XwJalaZfZq
        — Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) January 14, 2020

...
Several videos of the plane dumping fuel have emerged on social media, such as the one below: [linky]


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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Thursday January 16 2020, @04:06PM (4 children)

    by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Thursday January 16 2020, @04:06PM (#944040) Journal

    I saw stories on this while working out. ATC asked the pilot if they would need a fuel dump and the plane said no.

    And here's a link to the ATC audio where they asked the question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIA90evz8gs [youtube.com] (I haven't watched it fully yet but I kept with it long enough to see that the question is in the video).

    The pilot has to do what they need to do to get the plane safely on the ground, but if they needed a fuel dump they needed to tell ATC so that ATC could get them to a place where they could do that safely if possible. (And if the pilots needed to do it they still should have told ATC that it was occurring and that they would be unable to maneuver elsewhere). Fuel dumps (and/or flying off a certain quantity of fuel) aren't uncommon in return-to-airport situations and ATC knows where they can put planes to do that safely.

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  • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 16 2020, @04:23PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 16 2020, @04:23PM (#944065)

    I saw stories on this while working out.

    Yeah, I was taking a dump when I read about it. Small world, huh?

    • (Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Thursday January 16 2020, @06:22PM (2 children)

      by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Thursday January 16 2020, @06:22PM (#944144) Journal

      Totally. What did you have for dinner?

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      • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 16 2020, @07:55PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 16 2020, @07:55PM (#944186)

        I don't know what I ate but I know for sure it didn't smell like that

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 16 2020, @10:31PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 16 2020, @10:31PM (#944279)

        Rice-a-roni. The San Francisco Treat