UAL bird saved by the USAF

[JungleJett]

Do you realize how many "back seat aviatiors" they probably deal with on a day to day basis. There's an old saying that the two worst things in an airplane are.......

-Two Captains in a DC-9.

-A private pilot in the cabin.

I commend the Air Force personel for an astute observation. However, I don't fault the flight attendants at all for not taking the initial query seriously. However, it was good to see that they did eventually take the matter seriously after being further querried and identified.

Your not doing your job unless you take input from the back of the airplane seriously.

We were taxing out of Houston and the FA calls up front and says that a passenger is hearing a weird noise from over the wing..where his seat was. He said the "flappy things" on the top of things were also just going up and down. Well, they were and they were not supposed to be. Our taxi speed would have kept them closed and it was happening so fast, the indication in the cockpit was moving so fast, it did not trigger a message. We taxied a little further and stop in the run up area..as soon as we stopped, we get an EICAS message. We called MX and they advised us to taxi back. When we got back to the gate, I went back and thanked the guy. He said he did not initially want to bother us but has flown with us quite a bit and never heard or seen that before. I am not saying he saved the airplane and her occupants, but he prevented an interesting situation.

Never discount those in the back...

 

[waterski]

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

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.

......?

 

[retired guy]

Is that anything like the difference between "forth" and "fourth"?

Got Me!!!

 

[Andy Neill]

Got Me!!!

I think that's part of Murphy's law. The liklihood of you making a spelling error increases exponentially on posts correcting others' spelling.

 

[ImbracableCrunk]

I agree. If I was loosing 6,000 lbs of fuel an hr, there is no way I would coast out.

Nobody would. (Okay, almost nobody would.) Your fuel predictions would be so far off before coast-out, you'd catch it long before.

I think the article title should read "UAL Pilots Thank USAF Guy for Finding the Leak They Were Noticing On the Gauges."

 

[airplane wizard]

How come the pilot's didn't notice the excessive fuel usage. Didn't they check the fuel qty indicators? I thought paying pilots a good salary was supposed to prevent stuff like this?

 

[PBRstreetgang]

I thought paying pilots a good salary was supposed to prevent stuff like this?

You gotta pay them the "good salary" first. UAL pilots were B. Madoffed(by their own company) before Bernie was even getting started.
Nice try though!
PBR

 

[Raoul Duke]

Wanna make odds that the FA was some battle hag who was there for the Wright brothers first flight

 

[JumpersAway]

Your not doing your job unless you take input from the back of the airplane seriously.

We were taxing out of Houston and the FA calls up front and says that a passenger is hearing a weird noise from over the wing..where his seat was. He said the "flappy things" on the top of things were also just going up and down. Well, they were and they were not supposed to be. Our taxi speed would have kept them closed and it was happening so fast, the indication in the cockpit was moving so fast, it did not trigger a message. We taxied a little further and stop in the run up area..as soon as we stopped, we get an EICAS message. We called MX and they advised us to taxi back. When we got back to the gate, I went back and thanked the guy. He said he did not initially want to bother us but has flown with us quite a bit and never heard or seen that before. I am not saying he saved the airplane and her occupants, but he prevented an interesting situation.

Never discount those in the back...

This didn't give you a config warning or some other indication, prior?

 

[Fearless Tower]

Wanna make odds that the FA was some battle hag who was there for the Wright brothers first flight

It was UAL.....that's a given.

 

[JungleJett]

This didn't give you a config warning or some other indication, prior?

" the indication in the cockpit was moving so fast, it did not trigger a message."

The open/close message is very small and since they were only partially deploying and retracting so quickly, we did not see it...plus we were taxing...heads out and all. We asked MX about this and he could not explain why a config message was not presented.

 

[Bigoober]

Good on the Airman. Flying will always be a team sport whether it is the qualified crew or those who happen to be paying for the ride.

 

[B52GUNNER]

One of the Hags that uses the drink cart as a walker.

 

[contrail67]

Is that anything like the difference between "forth" and "fourth"?

That is awesum!

 

[AdlerDriver]

That is awesum!

And, on top of that, it's also awesome!