On January 14, 2020, a Delta flight from LAX to China experienced engine problems shortly after takeoff. Air Traffic controllers asked the Delta pilots if they wanted to dump fuel over the ocean but the pilots said they had everything under control and it was not critical. Controllers confirmed: “OK, so you don’t need to hold or dump fuel or anything like that?”, to which the pilots responded, “Negative.”
However, the pilots dumped fuel over land while approaching LAX for an emergency landing. The fuel was dumped over a five-mile portion of the Los Angeles county area, including five elementary schools and a high school. There are special fuel-dumping procedures for aircraft operating into and out of any major U.S. airport,” the FAA said in a statement. “These 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.
Teachers filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court. According to the Los Angeles Times, the suit says jet fuel is dangerous to humans and cites the US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. The plane had not tried to fly at a higher altitude, which would have permitted the fuel to dissipate, or to fly the aircraft in a holding pattern to burn off fuel.
According to the Los Angeles Times, there have been few studies looking at the health effects of short-term exposure to jet fuel, but experts say evidence indicates that symptoms resulting from one-time exposure are temporary. Those symptoms can include skin and eye irritation, headaches, dizziness, and respiratory irritation, according to the Health Protection Agency in the United Kingdom.
Studies looking at jet fuel exposure among military personnel suggest it can affect the nervous system, but that research involved people who worked around the fuel consistently over long periods of time, said Dr. Ulrike Luderer, the director of the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health at UC Irvine. According to Science.gov, chronic exposure to jet fuel has been shown to have adverse effects on human liver function, to cause emotional dysfunction, to cause abnormal electroencephalograms, to cause shortened attention spans, and to decrease sensorimotor speed. Due to the decision by the United States Air Force to implement the widespread use of JP-8 jet fuel in its operations, a thorough understanding of its potential effects upon exposed personnel is both critical and necessary.
Way to go…drop fuel on kids