KADENA AIR BASE —

Most of us hear stories of Airmen saving lives in combat, but a U.S. airman who saves the lives of more than 300 passengers is definitely a story worth hearing.

A fuel leak on a civilian aircraft caught the attention of Staff Sgt Bartek Bachleda, 909th Air Refueling Squadron boom operator, during a flight from Chicago to Narita airport last week. After alerting the pilots and aircrew, the ranking pilot made the decision to divert the flight to San Francisco.

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

Bachleda continued analyzing the outflow of fuel to be 100% sure it was a leak while the plane was reaching cruising altitude. Almost an hour into the flight, he told a flight attendant of the possible leak, but was given an unconcerned response.

Bachleda then began to capture the possible leak on video. He then got the flight attendant’s attention by saying, “Ma’am it’s an emergency.” He identified himself to her and showed her the image on video.

“She was completely serious and was no longer handing out drinks,” he said. “I told her you need to inform your captain before we go oceanic.”

The captain came from the cockpit to where Bachleda was sitting to see the leak and view the video footage. Bachleda said the captain and the crew were trying to figure out how the aircraft was losing 6,000 pounds of fuel an hour and then they knew exactly what was going on.

The captain made a mid-air announcement the flight would be diverted back to Chicago, but then changed it to San Francisco so passengers could catch the only existing flight to Narita airport.

Once the flight arrived in San Francisco, Bachleda and a coworker were asked to stay back while the aircraft was deplaned. They waited for the arrival of investigators, the fire chief, and the owner of the airport to explain what went wrong.

“When we got off the airplane, everyone was thanking us,” said the sergeant.

While conversing with the captain, the sergeant said he was hesitant at first to inform them about the leak, but he knew it was abnormal. The captain said they would have never made it to Japan if it wasn’t for him.

The two airmen were put up in a hotel overnight and flew back to Japan the next morning. The airline company showed their appreciation by seating them first-class.

Air Force News Service

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Latest 15 of 90 Total Comments Show All

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  Sarge at 09:43 PM JST - 21st May

  Yeinats: "And United Maintenance in Chicago should be fired"

  Only the maintenance staff working on this jet.

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  Kwaabish at 09:48 PM JST - 21st May

  Scap,

  I guess it would depend on if a Japanese passenger was also an JASDF refuelling crew member or an air crew on a dead-head leg, wouldn't it?

  I didn't read in the article that all non-Japanese passengers sitting in "A" seats were all up-in-arms hounding the flight or cabin crew reporting the strange contrail eminating from port wing...

  Anyways, the article was relatively "feel-good", why did you have to go there?

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  presto345 at 09:57 PM JST - 21st May

  The Aviation Herald – a site that monitors aviation incidents – identifies the flight as "United Airlines Boeing 747-400, registration N171UA performing flight UA-881 from Chicago O'Hare, IL (USA) to Tokyo Narita (Japan)."

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  Sarge at 10:02 PM JST - 21st May

  "before we go oceanic"

  I'll never forget this line as long as I live.

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  OssanAmerica at 12:06 AM JST - 22nd May

  Amazing story. I wonder what the chances would be of a Japanese >passenger reporting such a sighting. Most Japanese seem to have the >attitude that "It's none of my business" or "I don't want to cause a >fuss." That is the "Shi-gata-ga-nai mentality."

  What a stupid post. Obviously if the passenger was a Japanese SDF member the chances of it being reported in like manner are very high. Those people on the plane were damn lucky it was an USAF sergeant since most of us Americans don't bother looking out the window at all.

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  motytrah at 12:41 AM JST - 22nd May

  He didn't really save lives per se, he just made it easier for the crew to figure out where the fuel was going and come up with the best plan. They obviously could see on the instruments that something wasn't right. He saved the crew a lot of time and made it so more passengers could make other connections. Without that they might have dumped fuel and landed in the middle of no where until they could figure out what was up.

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  reader797 at 02:24 AM JST - 22nd May

  To OssanAmerica re your idiotic statement: "most of us Americans don't bother looking out the window at all". If that is the best you can do, maybe you should stop commenting as our self-appointed spokesperson and START looking out a window.

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  Badge213 at 02:29 AM JST - 22nd May

  Amazing story. I wonder what the chances would be of a Japanese passenger reporting such a sighting. Most Japanese seem to have the attitude that "It's none of my business" or "I don't want to cause a fuss." That is the "Shi-gata-ga-nai mentality."

  What are the odds of any regular joe knowing what the stuff going out of the wing is in the first place?

  Any case, the guy didn't save any lives, again good eye, and great that he reported it. However, I mean if there was a pregnant lady on board and he was the only person qualified to deliver the baby, now that's a story. However in this case the crew already knew they were losing fuel as reported, what they were planning to do wasn't reported, but it would of been stupid for the crew in losing 6,000 pounds an hour to continue to Japan even if this guy never said a peep. The story is written where it was because of him that the plane was turned around, what I'd like to know is what the decision process that was going on when the crew was troubleshooting their problem before it was reported, maybe the decision was ready made or being discussed well before it was reported. Like I said before, it just seems like a set of coincidences , together with some media spin that makes it a more feel good story then it really is.

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  rogerbentham at 04:47 AM JST - 22nd May

  looks like the dude was sitting on the port side. lucky he was sitting there, if not, this would have been very dangerous. those pilots calculate fuel consumption manually, although during ascent to cruise i doubt they had time to spot the discrepancy. what disturbs me is that EICAS, or the electronic info. crew alert system, hadn't warned the pilots AND that their manual fuel tally on paper failed to pinpoint this leak.

  judging by the wing markings, it looks like a united flight. one thing's for sure, at least the passengers had their flight to turbulence-hell (i.e. half way across the pac and near japan) postponed. believe me, japan's turbulent skies are the WORST.

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  buddha4brains at 05:37 AM JST - 22nd May

  What are the odds of any regular joe knowing what the stuff going out of the wing is in the first place?

  From some of the comments, apparently everybody knows but because they are all Japanese (no other Americans on board, you see) they are cultural damned without an American serviceman to save them.

  The serviceman did good as did the flight crew. As for the decision to continue to SF rather than turn back was not that crazy as some say. If the decision to turn back or go on to SF happened a third of the way into the flight - when given the time and fuel spent to turn around and then return - then it makes sense to continue to SF. In any event the fuel loss was a serious incident, but not critical at the point of discovery otherwise the plane would have landed immediately.

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  roomtemperature at 07:01 PM JST - 22nd May

  As I read the many ( yes OssanAmerica they are indeed IDIOTIC ) post, you guys try to say that this was an American plane, with an American crew and only Japanese passengers and one single American airman. So once again, America saved the lives of all those Japanese. Good job, Americans. We thank you for that!!!..............................happy now?

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  DStrope at 09:15 PM JST - 22nd May

  a true HERO

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  elbudamexicano at 09:18 PM JST - 22nd May

  Thank god this airman had the brains to do the right thing and point out this problem to the captain! I am happier to read this than having to read about this same aircraft going "oceanic" and 300 people drowning in the middle of the huge Pacific ocean!

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  alargo at 11:37 AM JST - 23rd May

  kavikahi: I was going to read your post...then I was interrupted by an intelligent thought.

  Well. It is nice that they didn't all wind up in the Pacific.

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  OhioDonna at 12:55 AM JST - 27th May

  All should be thankful that the leak was spotted. No lives were lost.

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