Air Force officer saves airliner with fuel leak

by Georgina Robinson

A US Air Force officer says he had to video a fuel leak in the wing of the airliner he was on before a stewardess would believe him.

Staff Sergeant Bartek Bachleda has been hailed a hero after his keen eye and patient persistence 35,000 feet above the ground saved 300 passengers on board a flight from Chicago to Japan last week.

"I noticed the leak on the left side of the aircraft right behind the wing earlier during take-off," said Sergeant Bachleda.

His first appeal to the flight attendant was met with ambivalence and the young sergeant didn’t want to be rude, he told Air Force investigators.

"Ma’am it’s an emergency," he said on his second approach after videoing the leak and identifying himself as an Air Force sergeant.

"She was completely serious and was no longer handing out drinks," Sergeant Bachleda said.

"I told her you need to inform your captain before we go oceanic."

The aircraft’s captain came to inspect the footage, which explained why the plane was losing 2700 kilograms of fuel each hour.

The captain said the flight would be diverted back to Chicago, but then changed it to San Francisco so passengers could catch the only flight to Narita airport.

"When we got off the airplane everyone was thanking us," Sergeant Bachleda said.

The captain told Sergeant Bachleda they would never have made it to Japan if he hadn’t raised the alarm.