Hero - Staff Sgt Bartek Bachleda

From Japan Today:

U.S. airman spots aircraft fuel leak at 35,000 feet on Narita-bound flight
Most of us hear stories of Airmen saving lives in combat, but a U.S. airman who saves the lives of more than 300 passengers is definitely a story worth hearing.

A fuel leak on a civilian aircraft caught the attention of Staff Sgt Bartek Bachleda, 909th Air Refueling Squadron boom operator, during a flight from Chicago to Narita airport last week. After alerting the pilots and aircrew, the ranking pilot made the decision to divert the flight to San Francisco.

�I noticed the leak on the left side of the aircraft right behind the wing earlier during take-off,� said Bachleda.

Bachleda continued analyzing the outflow of fuel to be 100% sure it was a leak while the plane was reaching cruising altitude. Almost an hour into the flight, he told a flight attendant of the possible leak, but was given an unconcerned response.

Bachleda then began to capture the possible leak on video. He then got the flight attendant�s attention by saying, �Ma�am it�s an emergency.� He identified himself to her and showed her the image on video.

�She was completely serious and was no longer handing out drinks,� he said. �I told her you need to inform your captain before we go oceanic.�

The captain came from the cockpit to where Bachleda was sitting to see the leak and view the video footage. Bachleda said the captain and the crew were trying to figure out how the aircraft was losing 6,000 pounds of fuel an hour and then they knew exactly what was going on.

The wit to recognize what he was looking at, to document it, to get past the blas� attendant and to the Capitan. Not every day that you save 300 lives (including your own).