Top Bunk and NoD thanks for taking trouble to reply
TB dont think the bumps were atmospheric it was very clear and fine that day and I would assume that the plane wouldnt fly smoothly with all its various extendable bits dangling around . As for the comment about climb power well I may sit behind you guys but I know what the engines sound like in different phases of flight and it certainlywasnt flite idle and sounded louder than cruise. I wont argue with you tho since I used the phrase losely I just meant the engines were working fairly hard but the plane was going down not up.
NoD thanks-am I right in thinking small typo in your reply which seemed to inicate that the centre tank can be dumped but the vents are on the wing itself. That wd seem to fit perfectly since I assume the plane was fairly heavily fueled for the 7 odd hours to Bermuda but plus the fact there is only one runway there and the nearest diversion is 700nm away. So I guess they dumped the centre tank fuel-which I saw and then burned off the rest
Thanks again
PB
Thanks to both for taking the trouble to reply