Originally Posted by
Allan38103
Airplanes fly more efficiently at higher altitudes. (I.e, less fuel, costs less)
There's no reason a crew would choose to fly lower if they didn't have to.
Certainly agree with, which is why my gut says they were purposely flying lower. If they just took off, they would have been fully loaded with fuel. Unless they were high enough and in area where it was allowed, they wouldn’t be able to dump fuel to shed mass. So in order to land safely and not risk brake overheating/failure, they may have chosen to burn fuel instead. And if you’re going to be flying around in a circle burning fuel, you might as well find an “inefficient” altitude to get the job done faster.
