Overweight Landing, Field Length & 1.67 Safety Factor
Hello. I am looking for some feedback on the following scenario:
1) B737-300 Take off at 59000 Kg.
2) Flight has to be discontinued and a land back is required at the departure aerodrome. Reason for land back is Depressurization. However no emergency situation requiring to land ASAP. Everything (including passengers) under control.
3) Max landing weight is 52000 Kg.
4) Unfactored landing distance (for 59000 Kg) is around 5700 feet.
5) Factored (1.67) landing distance is 9500 feet.
6) Landing runway is 9000 feet.
7) Runway condition is Dry. Night time and a non-precission (VOR) approach is in progress. Weather and visibility is not an issue.
8) No contact with the company for any assistance regarding making a heavy or a normal landing.
9) Burning 7000 Kg of fuel to bring the landing weight to normal limit requires 2 hours holding as fuel jettison is not possible.
10) No overweight landing procedure in the checklist.
Considering the above mentioned scenario, what will you do? Choose one of the following options:
A) Make a heavy weight (7 tons above limit) landing, based on unfactored landing distance of 5700 feet. Considering that runway is 9000 feet and safety factor of 1.67 is only for dispatch (pre-flight planning) purpose. Intention is to save fuel and 2 hours holding time.
B) Hold for 2 hours and reduce the A/C weight to avoid complications of a heavy weight landing in addition to bringing the factored landing distance of 9500 feet (at heavyweight) to less than 9000 feet (at normal landing weigth) to cater for the field length of 9000 feet. This would be based on the fact that the A/C is not in a state of emergency and safety factor of 1.67 can still be applied to avoid unnecessary complications in order to save fuel cost and holding time. Intention is to enhance safety.
C) Some other better course of action - please mention.
Looking forward to atleast 5 or more opinions on this issue. Thankyou.
Last edited by Haroon; 14th Nov 2009 at 05:20.