A Delta Airlines flight from New York to Ghana was forced to turn around over the Atlantic Ocean due to a fuel imbalance in the plane’s wings.
On Monday, Delta Airlines flight DL9923 left New York just before 5 p.m. The flight had been delayed a day due to a pilot’s illness, and then delayed the day of the flight because of weather.
At two hours and 17 minutes into the flight, the plane turned around at an elevation of 31,000 feet, according to a tracker from FlightAware.
YouTuber Arieh Smith (channel name Xiaomanyc) was a passenger and recounted the events on YouTube.
Mr. Smith noticed the captain come into the cabin and look out the window at one of the wings. Shortly after, an announcement was made that the plane had to return to New York with a fuel issue.
A Delta Airlines spokesperson told Newsweek that “DL9923 was returned to JFK out of an abundance of caution due to a fuel imbalance in-flight.”
Mr. Smith recalled to Newsweek that passengers were unaware at the time of the nature of the fuel problem, saying “we didn’t really have clarity around what the actual issue was. It was really the most nail-biting two hours I’ve ever experienced in my life.”
After landing, Mr. Smith spoke to the two pilots in the cockpit after one of them recognized him from YouTube and recorded the conversation. The pilots told Mr. Smith, “We actually had a fuel imbalance,” pointing out the right and left main fuel tanks corresponding to the wings.
The pilots continued, saying, “There’s a huge disparity [between the tanks], and we were not able to automatically or manually balance the fuel.”
Later in the video, Mr. Smith elaborated on what the pilots told him, explaining that a severe fuel imbalance between the wings can cause one of the engines to flame out. The danger made returning to New York an absolute necessity.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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