Judah wrote:
601XL Builder wrDOTgiacona@suddenlinkDOTnet wrote in news:45E0A989.1090806
@suddenlinkDOTnet:

MB made the point that had the aircraft been on fire that the pilot
probably wouldn't have bypassed the other two airports.

If the aircraft was on fire, the pilot would probably do an emergency
accelerated descent. However, if he were at low fuel, an accelerated descent
would probably not be desirable.

If he was truly at 15,000', and at a 4-5 mi/min airspeed, 81 miles would be
about right...

If it was a fuel leak. This brings up two issues. Where is it leaking
and is the leaking going to continue at the current rate or increase. If
those are two unknowns I'd want to land ASAP.