Dancing in the Jet Fuel

Imagine the feeling of being indoors and seeing rain outside, kinda makes you feel really comfortable or relaxing. But what happens when that slightly hurts when it touches your skin? What if it wasn’t even rain, but jet fuel? Well that’s what happened in Los Angeles in several elementary schools, injuring children and adults alike.

Turns out that an airplane that was headed to Shanghai had to do an emergency landing and had to dump some of their jet fuel. However, the plane happened to fly near local elementary schools, injuring 60 people in the event. “My friends said it was raining outside,” said Diego Martinez, a 6th grade student, “but I didn’t see any clouds.” What made it worse is making it look like harmless raindrops, making children think it was ok to be outside and enjoy the weather. Perhaps the most damaged and affected school was Park Avenue elementary where 20 children and 11 adults received injuries from the fuel devastation. Luckily, no one from any of the elementary school had to be taken to the hospital, but they needed to be decontaminated with soap and wear gowns.

The reason for the jet fuel dump was due to Delta flight 89 experiencing “an engine issue” leading the pilots to do an emergency landing by dumping some of their jet fuel in order to reduce the weight for landing rules. However, federal authorities found out that the pilots did not ask permission to do an emergency fuel dump. If they were to notify air traffic control first they would lead the plane to an appropriate fuel-dumping area. In addition, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said that the fuel dumping procedure did not happen at an appropriate altitude for the fuel to atomize, or not affect the people on the ground. As of now, there is no danger regarding contamination or explosives within the schools and classes will resume as usual. Let’s be grateful it didn’t lead to anything more serious or catastrophic.