Qantas Jet Landing -- Leak in Wing

[beachfront71]

Not a great last few weeks for Qantas with all of the the negative press .... but how is this considered an emergency if they were able to circle for an hour dumping fuel ??

FOXNews.com - Qantas Jet Makes Emergency Landing Because of Leak in Wing - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,396523,00.html)

[powerstall]

just my two cents,

Every Aircraft has a certified landing weight which may be due to structural, runway, or any other limitation, But there are times when the Max take off weight is higher than the Max landing weight.

So you have to burn off excess fuel to lose weight, rather than throwing the Self Loading Freight. If the aircraft lands more than the certified max landing weight, then... it would be a bigger accident and maybe structural failures, harder landing, landing gear breakage or etc..

hope it helps...

[rubik101]

Powerstall; no it doesn't help actually.
All commercial aircraft are quite capable of landing at the Max Take Off weight, minus whatever they burn during the positioning to make the approach and subsequent landing.
They are very, very unlikely to suffer any damage as a consequence of such a landing, provided the touch down is made at the normal rates of decent and speeds appropriate for the weight.
The Max landing weight is a limit applied to reduce the stress and loads on the aircraft in everyday operation.
If you ever have a fire on board your aircraft and are less than 100% sure it is out, then delaying your landing to either dump fuel or burn off fuel to achieve the max landing weight might well be the last wrong decision you ever make.
Refer to the Swiss cabin fire to see what I mean.