TheaterFire

Joint Base Andrews Was Leaking Jet Fuel. Maryland Didn't Know for Months. The Maryland Air Force facility lost roughly 32,000 gallons of fuel between December and April.

Posted by BeetleJuiceK9@reddit | aviation | View on Reddit | 57 comments

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57 Comments

ArcturusFlyer@reddit

Hawaiʻi: ["First time?"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hill_water_crisis)
View on Reddit #85475885

JKKIDD231@reddit

So no one smelled leaking jet fuel.
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tx_queer@reddit

32k gallons isnt a big leak. Kirkland AFB leaked up to 24 million gallons and nobody noticed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirtland_Air_Force_Base
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Ok-Acanthisitta8737@reddit

But if I use a plastic straw I’m the problem
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JKthePolishGhost@reddit

No, 32k is a big release. 24 million is an epic leak. I do petroleum cleanups for leaking tanks. Don’t let the worst case set the standards for risk. It can always be worse, that doesn’t make the very bad stuff less bad.
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AbeFromanEast@reddit

The grandaddy of them all is probably the Hanford Superfund Site. 1 million gallons of high-level radioactive tank waste leaked from underground single-wall tanks into the soil. By the time cleanup is finished in 2050 the cleanup will have cost more than the Manhattan Project did, in inflation-adjusted terms.
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TastyCalligrapher421@reddit

Sounds yummy, give me some of that soup.
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homeinthesky@reddit

I heard it’s supposed to be spicy. I love me some spicy foods, I’m in!
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Vaxorth@reddit

This article introduced me to a term called "bioslurping", so thanks for that. lol
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markp_93@reddit

comments about someone’s mother or somesuch…
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Logizyme@reddit

Yeah, the UPS MD-11 that crashed a while back had 38k gallons that all burned up.
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lostroadrunner22@reddit

.. was I not supposed to borrow some for my Toyota corolla?
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Drone314@reddit

32k gallons is not a lot, could almost be a full load for a transport aircraft. over 5 months the leak rate would be about 9 g/h - so a leaking underground fitting.
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Substantial_Tap_2493@reddit

Ooooooh that’s not good. That’s gonna be expensive to decontaminate too.
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ChinaCatProphet@reddit

Decontaminate? Sir, this is the US Government.
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bae125@reddit

Exactly. They’ll just put gov offices on it and spend decades trying to say the water is fine to drink
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edmonton2001@reddit

So they will be asking for $100B for cleanup.
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Dexcerides@reddit

Did you know military base water supplies are some of the worst in the world
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Substantial_Tap_2493@reddit

I did not.
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Dexcerides@reddit

Yeah there PFAS levels are insane and directly linked to their fire suppression systems. Of course there are other issues with contamination too, see “camp lejeune”
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charmin_airman_ultra@reddit

The SECOW is gonna spill his milk over this.
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AdultContemporaneous@reddit

Underground drinking water fuel contamination plumes are for libtards.
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Pullthesky@reddit

This is sadly how about 32% of our country thinks
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aviation-ModTeam@reddit

Your post has been removed for breaking the r/aviation rules. The moderators found that this post is not related to aviation, or is a better fit for another subreddit. Please consider posting in one of the following instead: The following subreddits should be used for related aviation subtopics: -r/flightradar24 or r/adsb for adsb-related posts -r/combatfootage for combat and war content -r/flightsim for gaming -r/whatplaneisthis for aircraft ID - r/fearofflying for flight safety questions - r/travel or related subreddits for travel-specific content (airports, destinations, airline policies, etc.)
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T0asty514@reddit

We should remove warning labels and see what happens.
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edmonton2001@reddit

There would be alot more cancer in California
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Trumpy_Po_Ta_To@reddit

If those kids could read they’d be very upset
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T0asty514@reddit

Yeah I had that thought after I posted 😂
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aviation-ModTeam@reddit

This content was removed for breaking the r/aviation rules. This subreddit is dedicated to aviation and the discussion of aviation, not politics and religion. For discussion of these subjects, please choose a more appropriate subreddit. If you believe this was a mistake, please message the moderators through modmail. Thank you for participating in the r/aviation community.
View on Reddit #85371878

FlightFramed@reddit

I'm sorry I'll need a TikTok filmed and produced by SECWAR to really get the message ingrained
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Crafty-Bunch2975@reddit

"Those are tookie number,s, you gotta pump those numbers up." -Miami International Airport, probably https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/toxic-runways-6364207/
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miglrah@reddit

Worked for a defense subcontractor that modeled similar kinds of underground spills. Happened all the time and usually went decades before being noticed. Took the USAF a long time to learn not to wash degreaser off the end of runways. Kelly AFB at one point was facing 50,000 homeowner lawsuits for contaminating a great deal of SAWS’s drinking water.
View on Reddit #85389633

Phog_of_War@reddit

Seems like someone dropped the ball on an audit or twelve.
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timelessblur@reddit

That is bad but I am going to ahve to ask how much jet fuel do the use per day? I could easily see that number being so low of the leak to not make someone things something is up and the daily shortage is with in a margin of error they would expect.
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ThatOneGayDJ@reddit

Its like one tanker plane's worth. So still a lot, but not as much as it sounds.
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Flavor_Nukes@reddit

Your tax dollars at work
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BiggusDickus17@reddit

32k gallons isn't even close to a rounding error for the DoD.
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SPANISH_INQUISITI0N@reddit

32k gallons isn’t even a full tank of gas for some planes
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GrabtharsHumber@reddit

I wouldn't expect.
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MondayNightRawr@reddit

Consent decree incoming
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Boggie135@reddit

32 000 gallons!? Wtf!?
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nkawtgpilot@reddit

That’s actually not that much when it comes to jet fuel and a months long leak. Pretty much what a single KC-135 can hold in its tank
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Arcangel696@reddit

I work next to a Kc base. They have 8 of them and it’s wild how much fuel they go through a month
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cx300@reddit

325k max gross - 120k aircraft ————- 205k fuel / 6.7 lbs/gal ————- 30,600 gallons full
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mb194dc@reddit

Surely it was stolen or an admin error. Quantity too much for it to be a leak.
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timelessblur@reddit

Depends how many gallons a day they are using. For example that is 32k gallons is going to be less than 1 days worth of fuel they use. Lets say it was a 100 days. That is going to work out to be under a 1% loss rate so easy enough to fall with in a measuring error on any given day so no one notices for a while.
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Arcangel696@reddit

A good example for myself is that I work right next to a kc135 base. The air tankers hold roughly 30k gallons each. They have 8 of them and use a massive amount of fuel
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ThatHellacopterGuy@reddit

32,000gal of Jet A / JP8 is a little over 200k lbs… which is less than one full fuel load for many aircraft that pass through Andrews. That’s a rounding error over the course of several months. It’s no excuse, of course, but it’s perspective for the volumes involved.
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Exi7wound@reddit

They don't dip their fucking tanks???
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deleted_by_reddit@reddit

[removed]
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aviation-ModTeam@reddit

This content was removed for breaking the r/aviation rules. This subreddit is dedicated to aviation and the discussion of aviation, not politics and religion. For discussion of these subjects, please choose a more appropriate subreddit. If you believe this was a mistake, please message the moderators through modmail. Thank you for participating in the r/aviation community.
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therealteggy@reddit

In this economy? Don't they know the price of jet fuel?
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AbeFromanEast@reddit

I remember flying over a denuded and sandy area of Joint Base Andrews with a USAF Brigadier General back in 1994. I looked down and asked, "what's that sandy spot, sir?" The General said, "you'll be seeing that on Dateline someday."
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BrewCityChaserV2@reddit

What happened at Joint Base Andrews in June 1994?
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Longjumping_Rule_560@reddit

So that’s why they are always invading oil rich countries.
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zestzebra@reddit

No open flames near drinking water.
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post-explainer@reddit

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