Delta Air Lines Flight 89

Delta Air Lines Flight 89

N860DA, the Boeing 777 involved in the incident, pictured in 2013
Accident
Date	January 14, 2020 (2020-01-14)
Summary	Fuel dumping over neighborhood
Site	South Los Angeles, California, United States
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 777-200
Operator	Delta Air Lines
Registration	N860DA
Flight origin	Los Angeles Int'l Airport
Destination	Shanghai Pudong Int'l Airport
Occupants	181
Fatalities	0
Injuries	56 (on the ground)
Survivors	181 (all)

On January 14, 2020, Delta Air Lines Flight 89 encountered engine problems shortly after departing Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). While preparing for an emergency landing on its airport of origin, it dumped fuel over the surrounding areas adjacent to the city of Los Angeles, resulting in skin and lung irritation in at least 56 people on the ground and triggering a Federal Aviation Administration investigation.

Incident

Flight 89 was a regularly scheduled flight from LAX to Shanghai Pudong International Airport, operated by Delta Air Lines using a Boeing 777-200 widebody jet aircraft. Flight 89 departed from LAX at 11:32am on January 14, 2020. The aircraft had 149 passengers and 16 crew members on board.

Minutes after departing LAX and initiating a climb over the Pacific Ocean, the pilots reported a compressor stall in the aircraft's right engine. Air traffic controllers asked Flight 89 whether the pilots wanted to remain over the ocean to dump fuel, but the pilots declined, saying "we've got it under control... we're not critical." Controllers again asked, "OK, so you don't need to hold or dump fuel or anything like that?", to which the pilots responded, "Negative." Flight 89 turned back over land and headed toward LAX to make an emergency landing. While over land and approaching LAX for an emergency landing, the plane dumped fuel over a five-mile portion of the Los Angeles county area, including five elementary schools and a high school. CBS News reported that, based on the expert opinion of a former Boeing 777 captain, Flight 89 would likely have dumped 15-20,000 gallons of fuel.

Shortly after completing the fuel dump, the aircraft landed safely.

Aftermath

First responders were called to multiple schools to treat children and staff who were outdoors at the time Flight 89 dumped fuel. At least 56 children and adults were reported to have minor skin and lung irritations. All affected schools were closed for cleaning, but were able to be reopened the following day.

The story received widespread media attention, with detailed investigation and analysis from organizations including CBS News, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and received substantial international media coverage. Aviation experts were puzzled by the actions of the flight crew. A former United Airlines captain called the fuel dump over a populated area “a pretty outrageous thing” that “nobody” would do. Safety expert John Cox said that because "they were not in an immediate threat condition, and they started out over water," the pilots will need to explain "why they continued to dump fuel at low altitude when they weren’t in a fuel-dumping area, and didn’t advise ATC that they were dumping fuel.”

On January 15, the FAA announced it was investigating the Flight 89 incident. In a statement, the FAA noted that "There are special fuel-dumping procedures for aircraft operating into and out of any major U.S. airport," and that "procedures call for fuel to be dumped over designated unpopulated areas, typically at higher altitudes so the fuel atomizes and disperses before it reaches the ground."

Following the Flight 89 incident, the mayor of Burien, Washington (a suburb of Seattle located near Seattle–Tacoma (Sea-Tac) International Airport) called on Sea-Tac’s owner to develop a response plan for communities surrounding Sea-Tac in case an incident similar to Flight 89 happened with a plane departing Sea-Tac.

References

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