The plane should have been collecting data while the toxic plume was in the air, Kroutil said.
“We only were deployed for two missions on Feb. 7. By that time the plumes were out, the fire was out. It was after the event and burn, so that was not the time to actually use this particular aircraft,” he said. “The aircraft only collected data, eight minutes worth of data with the targets.”
Usually, the plane would collect 100 minutes of data, Kroutil told NewsNation. He said scientists looked at the data and determined it was inconclusive, but the final posted EPA report did not reflect that assessment of the data.
Even more troubling, he said the plane turned off the chemical sensors over the
creeks in East Palestine.
“The program manager informed the operator, to turn those sensors off when we’re flying up a couple of creeks,” he said.
That’s not normal protocol, according to Kroutil, and there was no reason given as to why the sensors would be turned off.
“I’ve done 180 different responses,” Kroutil said. “I’ve never heard the program manager tell us to turn the sensor off when collecting data.”