Delta Flight JFK to Accra Diverts Back to Origin with Fuel Issues

[Lake1952]

Not sure how serious the issues were, but the flight was met by emergency equipment on arrival back to KJFK.


https://viewfromthewing.com/scary-delta-flight-to-ghana-risked-running-out-of-fuel-over-the-atlantic-returned-to-new-york/

[DaveReidUK]

"A passenger – Xiaomanyc with 5 million YouTube subscribers – shared just how scary the experience was to be over water and learn that the plane might not have enough fuel."

Give me strength ...

[7p3i7lot]

What kind of plane?

[dixi188]

DL156 seems to be a B767-300 every day.

[7p3i7lot]

Thanks. Been too long since I flew a 767 to remember much about the fuel system but trapped fuel (if that what it was) in that Boeing probably takes multiple failures of crossfeed/check valves or pumps. Don't know about any additional long range tanks in the -300 either.
Sounds like the Captain went to the cabin to check for fuel leaking from either the engine or wing to rule that out I suppose.
I think there was a 767 incident years ago crossing where the crew mishandled a fuel inbalance actually caused by an engine fuel leak.
Maybe someone could dig that incident up in the pprune records to jog our memories.

found a link to the schematic:
Fuel System :: Description (skydiving.co.uk)
m

[tdracer]

Originally Posted by 7p3i7lot

I think there was a 767 incident years ago crossing where the crew mishandled a fuel inbalance actually caused by an engine fuel leak.
Maybe someone could dig that incident up in the pprune records to jog our memories.

Pretty sure what you're thinking of was an A330 - fuel was leaking from a heat exchanger IIRC. They shut down the engine, but on the A330 that doesn't close the spar valve and they continued to lose fuel and ended up doing a dead stick landing in the Azores.
767 closes the spar valve when you do a normal shutdown so wouldn't have that issue.

[Bksmithca]

Originally Posted by DaveReidUK

"A passenger – Xiaomanyc with 5 million YouTube subscribers – shared just how scary the experience was to be over water and learn that the plane might not have enough fuel."

Give me strength ...

Dave have to agree with you, finally had a chance to watch the video about his near death experience. Would love to see what his comments would be if he was on a flight that experienced an engine failure.

[EatMyShorts!]

So much drama about a non-event.

[7p3i7lot]

"Pretty sure what you're thinking of was an A330 - fuel was leaking from a heat exchanger IIRC. "

Thanks for the correction. Yeah, Air Transat 236. Old brains forget these sort of details.

[Lake1952]

Why was this flight greeted by emergency equipment on arrival? Just "an abundance of caution "?

[dixi188]

Originally Posted by Lake1952

Why was this flight greeted by emergency equipment on arrival? Just "an abundance of caution "?

Have a chat to any airport fire crew.
The guys that used to do my fire training said they would rather sit by the runway and not be needed than have to rush to the scene of an incident while leaving their coffee to get cold.

[Sailvi767]

Originally Posted by Lake1952

Why was this flight greeted by emergency equipment on arrival? Just "an abundance of caution "?

I suspect they might have considered a fuel leak as the cause of the imbalance issue. I would request the equipment to inspect the aircraft in that case.