Back in January 2020, a Delta Airlines flight dumped fuel over residential areas and schools near Los Angeles, which led to a class-action lawsuit. Delta Airlines has agreed to pay $79 million to settle, without accepting responsibility, to escape the financial burden of trial proceedings.
In the settlement of the incident, a Boeing 777-200 was en route from Los Angeles to Shanghai with 149 passengers and 16 crew, when it began to experience engine troubles. Having to return to Los Angeles International Airport, the airline explained that one of the plane’s two engines had lost thrust after takeoff.
The plan was fueled for a 13-hour flight and exceeded the maximum landing weight by 160,000 pounds to make a safe landing. Rather than disposing of fuel over uninhabited areas, the 15,000-gallon dump occurred at low altitude.
After the plane landed safely, local firefighters were dispatched to Cudahy, where teachers and students were exposed to jet fuel. Nearly 60 students and teachers were medically examined, with some having minor skin and lung irritation, but none required hospitalization.
Park Avenue Elementary School in Cudahy filed the lawsuit, explaining that the fuel fell from the sky like rain and landed on their skin, clothes, and eyes. Shortly after, some of the residents of Cudahy also filed a lawsuit over the incident.
According to the airline, they try to avoid landing with a full fuel carrier as it can lead to damaging the aircraft, which could be costly. In documents of the lawsuit obtained by The Independent, Delta Airlines explained the pilot’s decision to dump fuel was “to reduce the serious risks of flying and landing an overweight airplane on just one engine.”
The FAA launched an investigation into the incident, wondering why fuel was dumped improperly over populated areas at low altitude, and noted that fuel dump procedures require dispersion at higher altitudes. Ultimately the FAA cleared the pilots of wrongdoing, stating they followed emergency procedures.
