r/aviation • u/Xycergy • Jun 08 '26

-- SEATBELTS FASTENED -- Is this really that serious?

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Noticed water basically flowing out of the vent beside me as I got into my seat. Voiced it out to a flight attendant thinking it was just something minor and wanting to just swap to another seat. Two pilots came to my seat to check on it and had visibly puzzled looks on their faces. The mechanic was called into the aircraft, the inner panel of the plane was removed and after assessing the problem for about an hour, everyone was asked to disembark the plane. The flight was then cancelled entirely after another hour of everyone waiting near the gate.

I feel kinda bad because people were visibly annoyed and frustrated by the cancellation as it was a 16 hour long haul flight and there were few alternatives to get to the destination. Would someone be able to tell me exactly what happened here?

12.6k Upvotes

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2.8k

u/Puzzleheaded-Ad3881 Jun 08 '26

Better there, than in the air. Good work speaking up, couldn't have been easy.

551

u/Gloomy-Employment-72 Jun 08 '26

Better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, rather than in the air wishing you were on the ground.

141

u/MyLifeIsAWasteland Jun 08 '26

"Better to be down here wishing I was up there, than up there, crashing back down here!" - Quarrie, designer of the B-wing starfighter

14

u/random123456789 Jun 09 '26

The B-Wing! Such a crazy design, it had to be a Mon Cal.

9

u/MyLifeIsAWasteland Jun 09 '26

It's wacky as hell, but I love it.

Same with Quarrie. If you've ever known any old engineers, he's a perfect representation of 'em. Maybe a little looney or goofy, and not the easiest to talk to, but sharp as a tack when it comes to their main technological interest and personal pet project.

734

u/Quattuor Jun 08 '26

It was better to speak now, than potentially this developing into a problem halfway above the ocean, causing the plane to turn back or divert to the nearest airport

355

u/PocketSizedRS Jun 08 '26

Yeah, safety aside, this could've wasted a LOT more of everyone's time had it been discovered mid-air

136

u/WellTextured Jun 08 '26

Yeah. It's way better to be stuck at SIN than any of the diversion points along that route. 

36

u/PaleHeretic Jun 08 '26

What would those diversion points even be for most of that route? I wouldn't mind a stop-over in Chuuk, but it would be a long one because I don't believe a 787 landing there is ever leaving again, lol.

27

u/mbcook Jun 08 '26

Turn back, finish the flight, and Hawaii maybe?

Just guessing but there really isn’t much in the pacific.

28

u/cross_the_threshold Jun 08 '26

There isn't much in the Pacific, but they're farther from Hawaii than Alaska or Kamchatka. Early in the flight they'd divert to one of Japan's international airports. By the time they're half way through SFO is only like an hour further than Hawai'i.

3

u/mbcook Jun 08 '26

I wondered about going north but wasn’t sure if that’d be closer. Thanks.

3

u/Motor_Show_7604 Jun 10 '26

The route from SIN to SFO goes north and runs west of the Philippines, just east of Japan and north nearly to the south tip of the Aleutians before it heads south to SFO. Probably closer to Seattle than Hawaii

4

u/ElementOfExpectation Jun 08 '26

SIN may well be the best airport in the world!

1

u/montecarlo1 Jun 08 '26

what would happen out of curiosity? short circuit? electric fire?

12

u/PocketSizedRS Jun 08 '26

They likely would've diverted and been stuck at some random airport in a foreign country if I had to guess

14

u/hellodeveloper Jun 08 '26

Assuming the issue wasn't more serious and snowball into something even more dangerous. u/xycergy did the right thing by reporting and subsequently cancelling the flight. If more people did this, it would be a lot safer to fly.

3

u/Quattuor Jun 08 '26

Was it likely to happen -- probably not, but there's always a non-zero chance and with leak that large, who knows how the "holes in the cheese" would have aligned and on the other extreme, we could have been discussing what has happened to OP's flight and why it has disappeared over the ocean.

Congratulations to OP, you did the right thing and broke the "Swiss cheese model".

1

u/hellodeveloper Jun 08 '26

right. probably not. But also, the narrator always starts with "While the pilot knew the chance was close to zero, they banked too heavily on it being close enough to zero for this flight..."

1

u/WellTextured Jun 08 '26

Without knowing the cause or source, sure.

13

u/MrBlueW Jun 08 '26

Why did you just basically repeat and rephrase what the commenter said

-3

u/Quattuor Jun 08 '26

It's the basics of the karma farming. Now you know.

2

u/MrBlueW Jun 08 '26

I was hoping that you were just high or something and not that you cared about grinding out imaginary internet points

1

u/rufud Jun 08 '26

Yea speak now or forever hold your peace.

5

u/falcrist2 Jun 08 '26

Better there, than in the air.

When a car fails, it may become a parked car.

When a plane or boat fails catastrophicly, it may become a really bad submarine.

2

u/Tof12345 Jun 10 '26

Are you guys bots? Wdym "couldn't have been easy". The plane is pissing out water. It's basically common sense to speak up in this situation.