Medical emergency: Boeing has to make a stopover and dumps 15 tons of kerosene
Created: 07/07/2022 13:26
By: Tanja Koch
Due to a medical emergency, the Boeing had to make a stopover at Frankfurt Airport.
© Mic Smith/AP/dpa
So-called "fuel dumping" has once again happened in Germany.
A Boeing 787 has to make an unscheduled landing at Frankfurt Airport.
Frankfurt Airport – A passenger plane dumped 15 tons of kerosene on Thursday (June 30) over the western Palatinate, eastern Saarland and the Hunsrück, as the Federal Aviation Authority
informed the
Rheinpfalz portal.
According to the German air traffic control (DFS) and the initiative Pro Palatinate Forest, the Boeing 787-900 ("Dreamliner") of the airline Etihad was on the way from New York to Abu Dhabi with up to 290 passengers.
However, the machine then had to make an emergency landing at Frankfurt Airport due to a medical emergency on board.
Probably to reduce the weight of the machine, the pilot released the kerosene from a flight altitude of almost 9,500 meters, according to German air traffic control in the descent from 31,000 feet, between 11:41 a.m. and 11:56 a.m.
The
flightradar24 website,
which publishes flight data, shows that before landing in Frankfurt, the machine made a large loop over the Palatinate and neighboring regions and a smaller loop over the North Palatinate Uplands.
15 tons of kerosene dumped at Frankfurt Airport before an emergency landing – does that have any consequences for the environment?
In emergencies, planes always drop kerosene over Rhineland-Palatinate.
At the beginning of June, 22 tons of kerosene were drained over the Palatinate, in mid-May 30 tons and in early March 80 tons, as reported by
SWR
.
In April, even 80 tons were lowered over northern Bavaria, an unusually large amount for such incidents.
In addition to unplanned stops, there are other reasons - for example, if machines have to go straight back to the descent due to technical problems at take-off.
With a full tank, planes are often too heavy to land safely.
The so-called "fuel dumping" has always been criticized.
Conservationists are concerned that the environment will be damaged.
However, according to the Federal Environment Agency, no critical environmental pollution is to be expected from the fuel discharges.
Much of the kerosene still evaporates in the air.
The statement is based on the results of a research paper from 2019.
Only a few days ago there was another emergency landing at Frankfurt Airport.
In this second case, however, the reason was engine damage.
It is unclear whether fuel dumping also occurred here.
(tk)
