A PASSENGER has described the shocking moment when the pilot of the flight he was on revealed it had run out of fuel over the Atlantic Ocean.
YouTuber Arieh Smith, who was on a flight from New York to Ghana, knew something was wrong two hours into the journey, when the pilot came into the cabin and started looking at the plane’s wing.
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In a video posted to his channel – which has five million followers, Arieh said: “We were close to two or three hours into the flight, midway across the Atlantic ocean.
“I saw the captain come down the aisle and start looking out the window at the wing of the plane.
“He was opening people’s window sliders up on the plane to look out at the wing – this is the captain, the guy who was flying the plane.
“He was reaching over people’s seats to get to the windows and he was travelling to multiple seats – trying to get the best angle to look at the wing.
“This was causing a bit of a stir on the plane. I remember saying to the guy next to me, ‘this doesn’t look good’.”
Arieh went on to explain that the pilot then told the passengers that there was a “fuel issue” and that the plane would then have to turn around and return to New York.
In his video he said the plane “erupted” at that moment, as passengers realised they could be in danger.
He said: “What I’m thinking in the moment is there’s a fuel issue on this plane and we’re thousands of miles out over the Atlantic Ocean, hours from any land…this is not good.”
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The YouTuber began texting his family using the plane’s WiFi, explaining that there was a problem with the aircraft and he loved them, just in case he didn’t make it back to the airport safely.
He also recorded a short video in the plane’s toilet, in case the worst happened.
During the tearful recording, he said: “I hope everything’s okay with this flight, it would be really great to hold my baby again.
“If this is my last video and you’re able to somehow recover this phone – and I really hope I’m overreacting here, I’m sure I am – I love you guys.
“My family and my friends, you guys mean everything to me and it’s only in situations like this that you really realise what’s really important to you and what really matters in life.
“I just want to hold my baby again.”
Fortunately for Arieh, the plane safely made it back to New York where it was greeted by fire crews and paramedics, in case anything had gone seriously wrong.
As he was leaving the plane, the pilot, who happened to be one of his Youtube subscribers, explained the problem in greater detail.
He said that there had been a “fuel imbalance” which meant that there was a “huge disparity” between the amount of fuel in the left main fuel tank and the right main fuel tank.
He explained that they were “not able to automatically or manually balance the fuel” and therefore they could not continue the flight.
Arieh later revealed that the pilot had also told him that had the situation got worse, one of the engines could have “flamed out”.
A flame out is the running down of a jet engine for unintentional reasons.
It can be caused by fuel starvation or exhaustion, among a number of other reasons.
However, because the issue was spotted as early as it was, they were able to get back to New York and land safely, with all parts of the plane still intact and all passengers and crew safe and sound.
If you do have the bad luck to find yourself in a plane crash.
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