Am I the only one who had a fuel nozzle pop off on a 737 at the gate?

Happened to me last Saturday morning at LAX, working a quick turn on a 737-800. I was hooked up and mid-fueling when the damn nozzle just popped right off the adapter. Fuel sprayed everywhere for a solid 5 seconds before I hit the emergency shutoff. I probably looked like a fool sprinting around the wing to cut the flow. Ended up calling for a hazmat crew and had to redo all the paperwork on a Sunday shift. Has anyone else had a nozzle fail like that or was mine just cursed?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_lisa11d ago

Funny you mention that, reminds me of a time I was at a gas station filling up my old pickup. Not a plane, I know, but the same kind of thing happened. The handle on the diesel pump just snapped right off in my hand while it was still pumping. There I was, holding a broken nozzle, fuel just pouring down the side of my truck. Ended up having to wave down the attendant and she just shrugged like it happened all the time.

jordanr8911d ago

Three and a half years ago I had almost the exact same thing happen with the air compressor hose at a Shell station in Ohio. The fitting where you screw it onto the valve stem just blew apart while I was trying to fill a slow leak on my wife's minivan. Air was screaming out of the broken coupling and I had to chase down the kid behind the counter because there was no way to shut it off from where I was standing. He just handed me the key to the utility closet and said "turn the valve on the side of the tank." I think the thing that bothered me most was how casual everyone was about equipment that could seriously hurt someone. @the_lisa you're right that these places just seem to expect things to fall apart and nobody cares until something really bad happens.