Originally Posted by
KelvinD
Thanks for raising that and thanks to those who responded. I too saw this aircraft from a distance yesterday and couldn't make out the details. Now we know the ID, can anybody tell me do 727s regularly leak from the wings? I saw this aircraft departing from Heathrow back in November and was a bit surprised when I saw the photos:
Ship Photos, Container ships, tankers, cruise ships, bulkers, tugs etc Ship Photos, Container ships, tankers, cruise ships, bulkers, tugs etc Take a look at the left wing, dribbling something!
Used to be quite common on the 727. You could override the volumetric top- off system and get as much fuel in the wings as possible. However, the downside was it would then fill up the vent box on taxi-out and take off during roll attitude changes and then had nowhere to go but exit at the NACA duct which the picture shows.