Fuel Venting ??

[WaterMeths]

I was at the park today with the kids when I looked up to watch an EMB-145 climbing out of Manchester on a Rwy06 departure. It was in a climbing right turn and I saw what looked to me like fuel venting out of the port wing,perhaps a third of the way along from the tip, trailing edge. Surely this would not be a usual occurance, was the aircraft in trouble, i.e. dumping for an immediate landing ?? Is the EMB-145 MLW much lower than its RTOW ?? Any ideas anyone??

[The Nr Fairy]

Water :

Most possibly condensation in vortices at the flap/aileron junction.

Any other guesses ?

[alosaurus]

-The area you describe is not far away from the NACA vent outlet.
-It is not uncomon on Manch 145s to have max fuel
-Like most other swept wing/dihedral a/c fuel enters the vent pipe when full.
-At rotation fuel in the vent line travels aft and outboard into the surge/vent tank.
-As it started the turn fuel would not have had time to be sucked back into the main tank and it then vents overboard.
In answer to your other question there is potentially a 2,300Kg difference between MTOW and MLW this would take more than 2 hours to burn off as we dont have the ability to dump.Clearly in a serious emergency we have the option to land overweight.

[WaterMeths]

Thanks Allo....

That probably was it then.

Nr Fairy....

That was my immediate thought too. But I discounted it due to the fact that it was only the port wing.....

Cheers.