why do they circle to burn off fuel when they could just fly to their destination and land there with emergency crews?

9/2/2008 4:03:00 PM

there seems to be some sort of couch on the tracks

9/2/2008 4:11:36 PM

so if there is a problem it's not made worse by creating a much larger fireball.

9/2/2008 4:15:38 PM

less fuel = less extreme worst case scenario

[Edited on September 2, 2008 at 4:16 PM. Reason : s]

9/2/2008 4:16:34 PM

Guessing it is the initial Airport's problem as that is where the blowout occurred. The other airport shouldn't have to risk safety and use their resources when they have nothing to do with the situation.

9/2/2008 4:17:43 PM

You don't really want to get any further from an airport than you have to when you've got an in-flight emergency. In this case, it is very possible that the blown tire has done damage that hasn't shown up yet . . . then again its possible that it hasn't. Either way, its safer overall to just burn off fuel while remaining close to an airport that is ready to support your emergency then risk flying off.

It all comes down to that airframe's and that airline's EPs.

9/2/2008 4:20:17 PM

If I were on the plane, I'd rather not have to spend the whole potentially long flight worrying about if something horrific is going to happen when they try to land on a busted tire. And I doubt airlines want to deal with the potential freakout for longer than they have to.

9/2/2008 4:20:18 PM

must have been Firestone tires

9/2/2008 4:20:48 PM

I know WHY they burn fuel, I was just curious as to why they don't just fly to the initial destination...

It makes sense that better to stay low in the sky in case anything else was damaged...and yeah, I'd probably rather spend 1 hour burning fuel low enough to the ground to see things than 5 hours above the clouds worrying about it.

thanks TWW!

9/2/2008 4:30:45 PM

they can't fly that low for one thing, second a blown tire can do anything from rupturing a fuel tank to taking out an engine

9/2/2008 4:40:02 PM

Exactly, the Concorde that crashed in France was taken out by a blown tire IIRC

9/2/2008 4:41:16 PM

when the landing gear is down, the wiring, hydraulics and fuel lines/tanks inside the wing are exposed and easily damaged by debris

9/2/2008 4:55:09 PM

also makes the plane weigh less making it easier to stop.

9/2/2008 4:59:17 PM