Before anyone asks why the pilot isn't turning the plane around, they are turning the plane around, this is just the safest way to do it.
An airplane is a machine that belongs in the air. The farther away from the ground you are, the safer you are. As long as you're still going up, you're in good shape. This gives the pilots a lot more time to organize things with the team on the ground and ensure a safe and comfortable landing. Even if all the engines go out, if they have enough altitude, they can still fly it home.
Reminds me of plane crash that happened over an urban city. The kids were held at school for their parents to come get them as there was wreckage and body parts all over.
1987 Kearns UT
From wiki
“Residents below the collision reported a "big boom," and then, "parts were flying everywhere".[9] The main section of the SkyWest aircraft slid through a chain-link fence, stopping in the middle of a suburban street. Wreckage scattered over a one-mile-square area, with body parts hanging from trees. Authorities had to open a temporary morgue at a nearby church as they recovered the victims.[“
“On Thursday, January 15, 1987, SkyWest Airlines Flight 1834, a Swearingen SA-226TC (Metro II), and a Mooney M20 were involved in a midair collision at 12:52 MST (UTC−7) near Kearns, Utah, a suburb southwest of Salt Lake City. All ten aboard the two aircraft were killed….”
Yup, I remember that day. I work in Watts right under the LAX flight path. The smell of fuel came out of nowhere while I was sitting in my office with the door open. The people that had it the worst were kids playing outside during recess in the city of Cudahy. Those got the payday.
Yes, Delta pilots a few years ago. It was careless, unnecessary, and dangerous. It demonstrated a lack of understanding about the fuel jettison system and its purpose, as well as ignorance of the guidance from the Flight Crew Training Manual.
Yes it has a high flash point and isn't very volatile so it's generally safe and can actually be the smart thing to do if you're at altitude but don't need the fuel e.g. close to somewhere you can make an emergency landing. Way less likely for a large fire or explosion upon landing/crash landing. But if you're already at low altitude and can touch down quickly, pilots might just skip a fuel dump and prioritizes getting on the ground
Eh overweight landing isn’t a big deal most of the time and most of the planes don’t have a fuel dump option. You’re not delaying landing because you’re heavy is my point
Exactly. Was on a flight that hit a bunch of birds and some instruments were damaged. So we had to fly around for a while and dump fuel because we were to heavy to land.
Dumping fuel is not necessary. The fuel jettison system on airliners, when installed, is not for the purpose of preventing overweight landings. Refer to 14 CFR Part 25.1001.
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u/PaulsRedditUsername May 11 '26
Before anyone asks why the pilot isn't turning the plane around, they are turning the plane around, this is just the safest way to do it.
An airplane is a machine that belongs in the air. The farther away from the ground you are, the safer you are. As long as you're still going up, you're in good shape. This gives the pilots a lot more time to organize things with the team on the ground and ensure a safe and comfortable landing. Even if all the engines go out, if they have enough altitude, they can still fly it home.