Originally Posted by
oneant
What's worse PR? Dumping fuel to return to DFW or choosing schedule over safety? The interesting part to me is that these kinds of decisions are what the pilot's unions love to use as one of the main reasons for their existence: the ability to make safety calls even when it may be detrimental to flight ops.
I don't think the monetary cost of dumping fuel ever crosses a pilot's mind in an emergency.
Also, I'm sure the flight was full, or at least they had a good amount of cargo on board. Therefore, the shifting of cargo is not as significant as you would imagine. If it was an empty plane, ferrying over the atlantic with a few bins in the cargo, then I would be worried. With a fairly full flight, the weight is pretty evenly distributed, and less room for cargo to shift