Etihad Plane in Trouble - Melbourne

[Sprucegoose]

Yes, my apologies for trying to have a life outside of AFF.

Apology accepted.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

There seems to be an issue with the Etihad flight leaving Melbourne this evening—it's circling over the bay and dumping fuel.

Dammit, I was fooled! I thought this post was about an Etihad fuel dump but instead it was an emergency on board! So much for the days of Canada Dry fuel dumps.

-RooFlyer88

 

[DC3]

I thought this post was about an Etihad fuel dump but instead it was an emergency on board!

Plane in trouble apparently. Do we have a link that explains the emergency on board?

 

[Forg]

Given it'd just taken off & I presume it's fuel tanks were pretty close to full (as I assume it was heading to the Middle East which is a decent distance) ... it can't be good having that much avgas dumped? I mean obviously better than a giant full 'plane consumed by a fireball ploughing into a crowded airport terminal, but it still can't be good?

 

[Saab34]

Would the same crew really be allowed to operate MEL-AUH with a duty time 5 hours longer than planned?

Good question, @jb747 might have some intel.

I think it’s unlikely EY would have a set of 787 crew here on standby.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Given it'd just taken off & I presume it's fuel tanks were pretty close to full (as I assume it was heading to the Middle East which is a decent distance) ... it can't be good having that much avgas dumped? I mean obviously better than a giant full 'plane consumed by a fireball ploughing into a crowded airport terminal, but it still can't be good?

just about every aircraft is designed to land safely fully loaded. I mean if you are dealing with a serious issue, you’re not going to waste an hour dumping fuel (some aircraft’s were lost due to pilots making this error). However, the issue with such arrivals is that you cannot bring them back into service right away, inspections have to be completed to determine whether the heavy landing damages aircraft components like the landing gear.

So I suspect in this case the crew made a calculated decision, the issue wasn’t severe enough for them to require an immediate landing but was serious enough that they couldn’t make it all the way to Abu Dhabi. So in such instances dumping fuel to perform an uneventful landing resulting in the issue being fixed and the bird refuelled in a couple of hours made the most sense.

-RooFlyer88

 

[Mattg]

just about every aircraft is designed to land safely fully loaded. I mean if you are dealing with a serious issue, you’re not going to waste an hour dumping fuel (some aircraft’s were lost due to pilots making this error). However, the issue with such arrivals is that you cannot bring them back into service right away, inspections have to be completed to determine whether the heavy landing damages aircraft components like the landing gear.

So I suspect in this case the crew made a calculated decision, the issue wasn’t severe enough for them to require an immediate landing but was serious enough that they couldn’t make it all the way to Abu Dhabi. So in such instances dumping fuel to perform an uneventful landing resulting in the issue being fixed and the bird refuelled in a couple of hours made the most sense.

-RooFlyer88

With respect, there are issues with overweight landings and I would suggest leaving it to the pilots and other appropriate experts to comment on the technical aspects.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

With respect, there are issues with overweight landings and I would suggest leaving it to the pilots and other appropriate experts to comment on the technical aspects.

To be fair… this isn’t the ‘ask the pilot’ thread!

IIRC in that thread (ask the pilot) it was stated by one of the pilots that planes can land ‘overweight’… but requires inspection etc.

KF88’s proposition makes sense… if the lives of all those on board were in immediate danger, an overweight landing would be better than no landing at all?