Originally Posted by
canyonblue737
The crew responded there was no need and just asked for a downwind back to the airport. With the Pacific about 0.5 miles from the end of the runway and the failure having occurred over the water I think the lawyers will have a field day that with a secured engine they could have dumped out to sea OR if the PIC felt the emergency warranted no delay in landing they could have legally and safely landed over weight.
Which way was the wind blowing (during the day it's nearly always out of the west around there)? Sure, the Pacific is just off the west end of the runway, but if landing well above max landing weight I sure wouldn't want a tail wind component while landing.
There is a cert requirement called 'Return to Land' - basically it says it needs to be possible to turn around and land at the departure airport - even at Max TOW - almost immediately after takeoff is there is a major emergency (uncontrollable engine fire being the classic example). BUT, to successfully perform a MTOW Return to Land, you want everything going your way - pilots on their 'A' game, good weather and runway conditions, etc.