Airport worker loses control over refuelling hose, drenching American Airlines plane

At Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, an airport worker has drenched an American Airlines plane and part of the tarmac in fuel after he lost control of the refuelling hose. The event – which lasted for over a minute – was caught on camera.

On Saturday, 11 October 2025, while filling an American Eagle aircraft parked at a gate at Terminal E at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport in Texas, a ground staff member lost control of the refuelling hose he was operating.

In a video shared on social media, it is clear how the highly inflammable liquid sprays over the American Airlines plane and the surrounding tarmac for over a minute before the worker can regain control over the hose. Between the start of the incident and his regaining control, the staff member walks away first in order to wipe the fuel from his face, after which he returns to the refuelling equipment, managing to turn it off from a safe distance.

Cause unknown

According to witnesses, the incident happened when the aircraft was fully fuelled and the staff member tried to disconnect the hose. It is unclear how much fuel escaped during the event, but all nearby gates were temporarily shut down while emergency crews responded, absorbing the liquid with special absorbent materials. No damage or injuries were reported afterwards.

“We are looking into the incident with DFW Airport and the airport’s fuelling contractor, Menzies, and worked together on the cleanup per procedure”, an American Airlines spokesperson told the New York Post.

Online, people have been busy speculating over the possible cause of the incident.

“I’m not a fueler, but there is a required ‘deadman’ switch that should stop the flow of fuel if the fueler lets go of it, so my guess is there was more than one failure here”, one user wrote on Reddit, commenting on the video, with many others backing his argument.

While some social media users are eager to put the blame on the airport worker, others are inclined to point towards insufficient safety and security training. Whether or not one or both are to blame might become clear through the investigation into the matter.