Sarcode2
No disrespect at all, a very valid question. I did not personally fly the Tu5, but do have ~10 years of experience operating the type. During most of that period I had access to all event & incident reports, so I am reasonably confident in my statement. The only qualifier is that we had a B-2 fleet, not the "M"s, however in this respect I am not aware of any change.
During one particular year we had a recurring issue with the oil filter sensors, with the filter blocked warning light coming on randomly on any engine, typically in high power setting situations (t/o). That warning was to be taken very seriously, as it could be a sign of metal grindings in the oil - a sign of imminent engine failure. Immediate shut-down of the affected engine and return to field was the procedure. If distance to landing was such and the a/c was above MLW, a low altitude, high drag configuration was selected to burn off as much fuel as possible (cruise consumption was ~7 tons per hour, with high drag/high power it was easily the double even on two engines, with such figures it does not take long to reach MLW, which was only 20t less than MTOW), however an overweight landing was permissible. Eventually all of the incidents were traced to harmonic vibrations fracturing one particular soldering in the sensor circuitry (which being a hairline crack, was practically undetectable, and only broke contact when vibration was near it's maximum), it was a major safety concern at the time because due to the frequency of events (1-2 every month) the crew got accustomed to the likelyhood that it is just another false alarm. I recall at least one disciplinary action after the crew only put the affected engine to idle to save on the lengthy paperwork required after an in-flight shutdown.
Mind you, neither the 737 or the 320 family has a fuel dumping system either. On most short / medium haul aircraft it is not necesary, as the MTOW/MLW difference is not great enough, and there is enough structural reserve to allow an overweight landing in an emergency.
Last edited by andrasz; 12th Apr 2010 at 07:39.