Like a scene out of the ‘Final Destination’ movie franchise, passengers on a recent American Eagle flight at the Dallas Fort Worth Airport had a very lucky escape from near disaster after a ground worker lost control of the refueling hose.
In several video clips shared on social media, the moment the highly flammable jet fuel started to spray uncontrollably around the aircraft has now gone viral, with viewers left gobsmacked by the incident.
When the incident happened isn’t exactly clear, although it’s believed to have occurred in the last few days just before a late-night departure from the airport.
The ground worker was finishing up refueling the American Eagle regional jet and went to disconnect the hose from the belly of the plane, but the worker didn’t appear to realize that fuel was still being pumped through the hose.
As he pulled it from the refueling port, he instantly lost control as the hose, still under high pressure, started to lash around, spraying fuel across the plane and the surrounding tarmac.
Startled and trying to rub his face from where fuel had splashed on him, the worker stumbles back to the refueling truck, eventually managing to turn off the pump and stop the fuel from spraying everywhere.
One video was taken from surveillance camera footage of the incident, while another angle from the other side of the plane was captured by a passenger from inside the terminal building.
Ramp agents, or rampers as they are commonly known, have taken to social media to share their opinion on what they think caused the accident, with many agreeing that it looks like this was down to a broken hose or pump rather than a mistake on the refueler’s part.
While thankfully rare, fuel spills do happen from time to time (although perhaps not so spectacularly as the latest incident at Dallas Fort Worth).
Almost a year to the day, passengers on a Eurowings plane at Düsseldorf Airport in Germany had to be evacuated when the driver of a refueling truck accidentally reversed the vehicle into a bollard next to the plane and pierced the side of the tanker.
The airport fire service quickly responded to the incident and used special absorption pads to clear up the spillage.
Looks like someone tied off the deadman switch and left the pump on when disconnecting. It is basic fueler knowledge you don’t do this and way too many fuelers do it.
Rampers don’t fuel. It’s not an AA (on in this case Envoy) employee. It’s the contracted fueling vendor employee. Please correct your headline.
Menzie’s was the fueling agent. As someone said, why was he not holding the dead man switch or pull-rope. This guy will for sure not be working anymore as an into-plane fueler