Plane Fuel Dumping Worries Some In Logan Airport Flight Path
MILTON (CBS) - A fuel dump over schoolchildren near Los Angeles is reigniting concerns for some residents in the Logan Airport flight path in Milton.
"They go right over the house - the same exact track," said Milton resident Stephanie Leguia.
Leguia has been concerned for years about the effects of the airplanes flying in and out of Boston, but that concern turned to fear last month. She was just feet away from an emergency slide that fell from a Delta plane into her neighbor's yard.
"After that, I started shaking. I realized that we could have been killed," said Leguia.
The FAA said fuel dumps typically happen at a higher altitude to allow the fuel to burn off.
"That liquid as it rubs against the dry atmosphere molecules those molecules will simply dissipate and then people on the ground just won't even feel the fuel that was jettisoned from the aircraft," aviation expert David Price told WBZ-TV.
Price said the goal is always to dump the fuel over unpopulated areas, but sometimes pilots need to break from procedure to ensure the safety of the passengers. Less fuel lightens the load on a plane's landing gear.
"You can actually lose an entire aircraft by having a heavy landing with a lot of fuel on board," said Price.
Price said fuel dumps over neighborhoods are very rare.
According to the FAA Boston, air traffic controllers send planes that need to release fuel over the ocean.