A United Airlines plane was prevented from taking off after passengers alerted crew members to fuel that appeared to be dripping from the wing.
As one of the airline's Boeing 767-300s was taxiing on the runway at Newark Liberty International Airport, it was forced to stop when fuel began dripping from the left wing. The plane was supposed to be heading to Venice.
Check out the bizarre footage here:
Credit: Storyful
Advert
The voice you can hear on the footage is that of passenger Rachel Brumfield, who says: "What could that be? There's trucks everywhere, that's not normal."
She told the New York Post: "I'm sitting looking out window at the wings, and all of a sudden fuel started shooting out of the wing really, really hard. It was huge - it looked like a fire hose."
The 28-year-old was supposed to be embarking on her first overseas flight, which was already making her nervous. But her nerves were definitely not quashed when she saw the fuel gushing out of the wing.
Rachel's fiancée rushed to tell staff as the plane was moving down the runway, but they told him to sit down because 'everything's normal'.
The pair were devastated when the flight was cancelled, as they had two tickets on a cruise ship leaving from a port near Venice. United managed to book them onto a Delta flight but the couple had to sleep on the floor of baggage claim that night.
Advert
LADbible has reached out to United Airlines for comment.
It doesn't appear to be the only fuel problem that has hit the airline recently. This Twitter user recounted what the pilot told passengers on his flight to Chicago.
It reads: "Good morning everyone. This is your captain speaking. The reason we are stalled on the runway is because we realised we may not have enough fuel to get us to Chicago today.
Advert
"So we are waiting for air traffic control to decide whether or not we'll fly. Our options may be that we'll have to return back to the gate and de-plane or we may just have to fill up with fuel. As it stands now we are looking at a one hour delay or so."
Over three different days this month, other passengers experienced the same.
Look, it's better that these pilots don't chance it and see how far they can fly on the fuel they have in the tank. But it's still an inconvenience, and certainly shouldn't happen that many times.
United is also dealing with a lawsuit after a 71-year-old man was shoved to the ground by a UA employee. The incident happened at Bush International Airport in 2015, when Ronald Tigner asked if he could be issued with a new boarding pass. The staffer, Alejandro Anastasia, is accused of laughing at the elderly man and swearing at him.
Anastasia was later fired and charged by police. As a result, he had to pay a fine, write an apology and go to anger management classes.
United Airlines issued a statement saying: "We are disturbed by the completely unacceptable behaviour shown in a video of a customer and a former United employee at Bush Intercontinental Airport in 2015.
Advert
"The actions shown here do not reflect our core values or our commitment to treat all of our customers with respect and dignity. We are reviewing all circumstances surrounding this incident and reaching out to our customer through his attorney to profusely apologise for what occurred and to make this right."
Featured Image Credit: Twitter/RachelEPasTopics: United Airlines
