Tristar dumps fuel at EDI
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Tristar dumps fuel at EDI
"Military jet in emergency landing at Edinburgh Airport" but performs loops before doing so. See BBC report at:
BBC News - Military jet in emergency landing at Edinburgh Airport
BBC News - Military jet in emergency landing at Edinburgh Airport
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Tristar Emergency SOP?
Breaking news ......... BBC News - Military jet in emergency landing at Edinburgh Airport
Nice skills, sir 
. Handling emergencies with such panache. Surely not to be encouraged in the modern RAF.
The pilot was forced to fly in a loop above the city with its gear down in a bid to burn more fuel.
. Handling emergencies with such panache. Surely not to be encouraged in the modern RAF.
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Have to say that this didn't look right (compared with normal movements at EDI) as it seemed to climb out from the airport and turn sharply to head east over southern Edinburgh. And then we met what appeared to be Lothian and Borders Fire Brigade's full complement of heavy duty and serious incident kit coming at speed round the Edinburgh bypass towards the airport. So pleased they got down safely.
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Once it was light enough, the plane landed at the airport at 13:00
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Getting Compassionate cases home when necessary is one thing the RAF does get right I'm pleased to say. Laying on an aircraft/helicopter as and when, or diverting en route not a problem.
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Question:
Why did they have to do loops over the city with the gear down to burn off fuel, they could have just dumped fuel to get down to max landing weight?
No flap landing is not common but has been done more than once.
Why did they have to do loops over the city with the gear down to burn off fuel, they could have just dumped fuel to get down to max landing weight?
No flap landing is not common but has been done more than once.
Last edited by glhcarl; 5th Sep 2011 at 16:37.
Getting Compassionate cases home when necessary is one thing the RAF does get right I'm pleased to say. Laying on an aircraft/helicopter as and when, or diverting en route not a problem.
Why did they have to do loops over the city with the gear down to burn off fuel, they could have just dumped fuel to get down to max landing weight?
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Getting Compassionate cases home when necessary is one thing the RAF does get right I'm pleased to say. Laying on an aircraft/helicopter as and when, or diverting en route not a problem.
Getting a 'compassionate' passenger to destination a.s.a.p. is one of those events in the AT/AAR world when everyone pulls together knowing that even a couple of minutes could make the difference between the passenger seeing their loved one alive or deceased.
I've no idea of the circumstances of this event, but if the TriStar arrived to make a normal landing only to find that the flaps, for example, wouldn't extend, then it might well be necessary to reduce weight to enable a flapless landing to be made. Putting the gear down would help to burn off a little quicker whilst checking the figures for a flapless landing, so that the fuel dump time needed would ultimately be shorter.
Routinely if it was necessary to dump down to flapless landing weight, one would find a suitable area to avoid disturbing the locals. But if that meant a longer delay for the compassionate patient, then I'd say to hell with it and dump at the minimum acceptable height to expedite matters... RAF crews aren't slaves to the QRH, unlike some airline people-tube drivers and are taught to make pragmatic judgments.
Anyway, being Jockistanis they were all probably out with buckets trying to catch the Avtur...
I've no idea of the circumstances of this event, but if the TriStar arrived to make a normal landing only to find that the flaps, for example, wouldn't extend, then it might well be necessary to reduce weight to enable a flapless landing to be made. Putting the gear down would help to burn off a little quicker whilst checking the figures for a flapless landing, so that the fuel dump time needed would ultimately be shorter.
Routinely if it was necessary to dump down to flapless landing weight, one would find a suitable area to avoid disturbing the locals. But if that meant a longer delay for the compassionate patient, then I'd say to hell with it and dump at the minimum acceptable height to expedite matters... RAF crews aren't slaves to the QRH, unlike some airline people-tube drivers and are taught to make pragmatic judgments.
Anyway, being Jockistanis they were all probably out with buckets trying to catch the Avtur...
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Out off curiosity why did the land at edin? ESP if they had time to burn fuel off?
I mean why not head to leuchars , Lossiemouth or Kinloss ? ie a R.A.F. Base ?
I mean why not head to leuchars , Lossiemouth or Kinloss ? ie a R.A.F. Base ?
one of those events in the AT/AAR world when everyone pulls together
why not head to leuchars , Lossiemouth or Kinloss ? ie a R.A.F. Base ?
Puzzled about the questions about dumping fuel over the Jocks. Last time I looked Edinburgh was a few miles from the coast, so returning the fuel to the North Sea (whence it may have come) would seem to be the easy answer, so I assume there was a good reason not to use whatever fuel dump system the Tristar has.
Due to some cock-up we once took off from Marham for a 45 minute transit to Leuchars with a max 86,000 lbs in our Victor K1. Spent the whole transit from TOC all the way up to Leuchars dumping fuel through the pods to get down to max 25,000 landing fuel at Leuchars. Didnt like to think how much that lot cost.
Due to some cock-up we once took off from Marham for a 45 minute transit to Leuchars with a max 86,000 lbs in our Victor K1. Spent the whole transit from TOC all the way up to Leuchars dumping fuel through the pods to get down to max 25,000 landing fuel at Leuchars. Didnt like to think how much that lot cost.
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Tri-Star doing "loops" over Edinburgh.
Jeez, would love to have seen that. "Loops" over anywhere in a TriStar!! Did nobody notice the BBC report. All the conjecture regarding dumping of fuel is a bit of a nonsense. The report says that the problem became apparent at 12:30 and that it landed safely at 13:00, 30 minutes after encountering the problem. Probably spent time "orbiting", as distinct from "looping", with the gear down whilst endeavouring to extend the flaps. No where did I read that the aircraft actually made a flapless landing.
The pilot was forced to fly in a loop above the city with its gear down in a bid to burn more fuel.
Not sure whose 'gear' they're referring to - the pilot, the plane or the city.
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I could hear something fly over the city centre a couple of times just before lunch, and thought it seemed an odd route. Guess I should have gone out and looked.