From Wired.com:
Staff Sgt. Bartek Bachleda knew something was amiss almost immediately after the jetliner left Chicago.
He’d looked out the window and saw what he thought was a fuel leak. He’d know, because he’s a boom operator with the 909th Air Refueling Station based at Kadena Air Base in Japan. That’s where he was headed. He was one of 300 people aboard the flight bound for Narita.
Still, he wanted to be sure, so he kept close watch on the situation. After an hour, he was convinced the plane had a serious problem. He alerted the flight attendant, who appeared unconcerned. He started filming the leak. No one knew it at the time, but the plane was losing 6,000 pounds of fuel an hour. He showed the flight attendant the video.
“Ma’am, it’s an emergency,” he told her after identifying himself, according to the U.S. Air Force. “You need to inform the captain before we go oceanic.”
That convinced her. She told the captain. He watched the video. He announced that the plane was returning to Chicago, then decided to continue on to San Francisco. It was the only place passengers could catch another flight to Narita.
Bachleda’s actions may have saved the lives of everyone aboard that flight, which the Air Force did not identify. Upon landing, the captain told Bachleda the plane wouldn’t have made it to Japan.
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