It's getting more interesting.
“The question investigators are going to ask is that if you’re going to dump fuel, why didn’t you advise air traffic control, and why didn’t you go where fuel dumping is approved, which would not be over a highly populated area,” Cox said. “If you had an on-board fire or something like that, it makes absolute sense to do that. But this was not that case.”
The crew of Delta Flight 89 did not inform air traffic control that they were going to dump fuel, according to a review of communications, the Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday. Typically, air traffic controllers direct planes to appropriate fuel-dumping areas, the agency said in a statement.
"I'm just puzzled why these folks decided to do it this way, "said Ross Aimer, a retired United Airlines pilot and CEO of Aero Consulting Experts.
The engine malfunction was described as compressor stall, similar to a carburetor popping in a car with a backfire and loud bang, maybe even a small fire, but it's not a dire emergency, Aimer said.
"Even with this malfunction, it's surprising to me why the crew didn’t inform air traffic control of their intent to drop fuel, he said. "They had the time."
Aimer said another option could have been to land the plane heavy, which is safe in certain situations.
"It's not a big deal to land with heavy weight, and in this case it would have been fine because they had good weather along with a long and dry runway," he said. "Most of us would have just landed heavy because the airplane could sustain with one engine."
When planes land heavy, they must undergo an extra inspection to assess any damage, he said, adding it would not endanger passengers.
“It seems right now that they made a mistake,” he said. “I don’t know why they were in such a hurry because it appears this was not a type of emergency where you needed to get down immediately.”
Aimer said the airline and pilots could face punishment, including fines or being ordered back to flight school, in addition to potential lawsuits from victims.
Here's another one:
However, compressor stalls are relatively common and aren’t typically considered a dire emergency that would necessitate an immediate landing, according to safety expert and aviation consultant Robert Ditchey.
The Boeing 777 is ETOPS-certified, an acronym used in aviation signifying “extended operations,” which means the two-engine aircraft can fly an extended duration on one engine, Ditchey said. That would suggest there was no immediate urgency to land, he said, per Boeing and FAA standards.
Still, the decision to return to LAX prompted the question from the control tower about dumping fuel. Whether the instruction to release the fuel came from air traffic control or Delta, the ultimate decision-maker would be the pilot, who would have been aware he was flying over a residential area rather than the ocean or other unpopulated area, Ditchey said.
“Dumping is literally a toggle switch. How much fuel you dump is a decision that the captain or Delta Airlines Operations Control would discuss,” he said.
At one point in the audio communications, the pilot tells ground control that 181 people, including crew members, are aboard the plane. According to Seat Guru, a site that tracks the layout of planes, that number would have meant the flight was about two-thirds full.
If that was the case, Ditchey said, it would suggest that a decrease in weight would not have been a major issue because the plane was not at maximum capacity.