Originally Posted by
TxDucky
The A380 can only dump from some tanks, not all. With the feeder tanks full, no dump capacity, it is still possible to be over max landing weight. Circling in such a configuration is more dangerous, as the aircraft would be in an area of the flight envelope with much less leeway before reaching over speed for configuration or a stall.
TBH, the priority here was landing the A/C without doing something that will extend the out of service time rather than a concern about the pax. What’s done is done, the pax compensation is already baked-in.
Great information, Thank you. Your knowledge of the A380 is much better than mine (I'm really not a fan of it so I haven't spent much time researching it).
Of course passnger comfort is secondary in cases like this, I assumed (wrongly) that they might have been in a situation where there was a secondary issue (landing gear) and they needed to get the fuel and weight down to a minimum to reduce risk of further damage or fire on landing.
Kind of stupid to me that such a big plane designed for ULH doesn't have a more proficient fuel dumping system, but that probably speaks more to my bias about the ugly uncomfortable thing than the actual engineering.
In the end glad it was simply an "A-180" problem and no one was hurt.