United Boeing 767 Dumps 33,000 Pounds of Fuel Over England

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PARIS— A United Airlines (UA) Boeing 767 operating from Paris to Washington Dulles was forced to make an unscheduled return to Paris after a lavatory malfunction rendered the aircraft unable to continue its transatlantic journey.

The widebody jet had departed from Paris, and almost an hour into the flight, it was discovered that three of its lavatories were malfunctioning. This led to the carrier dumping 33,000 pounds of fuel in the process.

United Airlines Boeing 767 Returns to Manchester

The aircraft deployed in United Airlines flight UA-331 was a Boeing 767-300, which departed Manchester on schedule but quickly encountered a systems issue.

With the lavatories unavailable on a long-haul flight, the airline determined it could not proceed across the Atlantic Ocean.

The aircraft circled to burn time before returning to Manchester, but safety rules required it to dump tens of thousands of pounds of fuel prior to landing.

The airline later confirmed that the problem was linked to onboard bathroom facilities, leaving the aircraft unfit for its nearly eight-hour crossing to the United States.

Because of the maximum landing weight restrictions of the Boeing 767, the crew performed a fuel dump over parts of northern England.

Approximately 33,000 pounds of fuel were released at altitude, a standard and controlled procedure designed to reduce the landing weight to safe levels.

Controlled Fuel Dump Over Northern England

According to Paddle Your Own Kanoo, the pilots decided to divert back to Paris, around an hour into the flight. This was despite the fact that even with some broken lavatories, the carrier offers a better washroom ratio than other carriers.

United’s Boeing 767s seat 214 passengers and feature seven lavatories, giving them a favorable ratio of about one washroom for every 31 travelers, the same publication revealed:

With three washrooms out of service, the washroom-to-passenger ratio becomes 54 passengers per washroom. That, however, still compares favourbly to the new Qantas A321XLR, which only has one lavatory onboard for every 90 passengers!

Despite this, the carrier chose to dump its fuel and return to its destination, following a fuel dump.

Fuel dumping is strictly regulated and executed at high altitudes to minimize environmental impact. Authorities confirmed that the procedure adhered to international aviation standards, and no safety risks were posed to communities below.