Delta Air Lines has agreed to pay a pretty penny to settle a lawsuit, as reported by Reuters. This involves an emergency landing several years back, related to a questionable fuel dumping decision.
Delta agrees to pay for dumping fuel over Los Angeles
This case involves an incident that happened on January 14, 2020. Specifically, it’s related to the Boeing 777 that was scheduled to operate flight DL89 from Los Angeles (LAX) to Shanghai (PVG), with 167 people onboard.
One of the plane’s engines lost thrust after takeoff, so the pilots made the decision to return to LAX. For heavy aircraft, it’s standard for the maximum takeoff weight to be significantly higher than the maximum landing weight. So for a long haul flight, that means that fuel has to be burned or dumped before a plane can return to its origin (assuming it’s not a life threatening emergency).
In this case, the pilots made the decision to dump around 15,000 pounds of fuel, to reduce the risk of an overweight emergency landing. Fair enough, except for where this was done — rather than flying out over the Pacific Ocean, the pilots dumped fuel while flying at a low altitude over a populated area. This caused dozens of minor injuries, including for school kids.
The lawsuit argued that the pilots unnecessarily dumped fuel at a low altitude over a densely populated area, instead of dumping it over the Pacific Ocean at a higher altitude (so it would dissipate).
With this lawsuit having dragged on for a long time, Delta has agreed to settle and pay $78.75 million. The company denies wrongdoing, but says it settled to avoid uncertainty, distraction, and the cost of litigation.
Delta also claims that the crew “did exactly what federal regulations and their FAA-approved training required them to do to respond to that in-flight emergency and ensure the safety of the passengers, crew, and people on the ground.” Delta claims that a later Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) investigation cleared the pilots of wrongdoing.
The net settlement after legal fees is expected to total around $50 million, and will be distributed to owners and/or residents of an estimated 38,000 properties. By my math, that comes out to around $1,300 or so per home… while the law firm potentially takes home tens of millions of dollars.
A lawyer for the plaintiffs argues that this settlement was fair and reasonable, and will compensate “hard-working families who asked only for respect and just treatment and rightly deserve this result.”
Were the Delta pilots actually following procedures?
Delta claims that the crew was following correct procedures, and that the FAA even cleared Delta over this. However, has anyone actually seen a statement from the FAA confirming that procedures were followed? There’s a lot about this incident that doesn’t make sense.
For one, air traffic controllers specifically asked the Delta pilots if they intended to dump fuel, and they said they said that they wouldn’t. At no point did they communicate to air traffic controllers that they dumped fuel, so… why? Furthermore, fuel was dumped at an altitude of as low as 2,300 feet above land, when it should ideally be dumped over water at an altitude of at least 5,000 feet.
Based on everything we know, the crew wasn’t facing any sort of a life threatening emergency. One of the engines had a compressor stall, and the crew later even advised that they had brought the engine back under control. To air traffic control, one of the pilots specifically communicated “we’ve got it back under control, we’re not critical.”
Every professional analysis I’ve seen published of this situation suggests this was an inexplicable decision on the part of the crew, given the circumstances. Dumping fuel at a low altitude over a populated area with a non-critical situation? Why?
Obviously Delta doesn’t want to admit wrongdoing, but how can the airline claim that the crew was following the company’s procedures? What are we missing?
Bottom line
Delta has agreed to settle a lawsuit over a 2020 fuel dumping incident, where a Boeing 777 inexplicably dumped fuel over a Los Angeles neighborhood, rather than flying out over the Pacific. What makes this all the more puzzling is that one of the pilots claimed the situation wasn’t critical, and that they didn’t intend to dump fuel… only to then do so.
Delta claims that pilots were following standard procedures, though that doesn’t match any independent analysis I’ve seen about this incident, so I’m not sure what to make of this.
What’s your take on Delta settling this fuel dumping lawsuit?
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