Question regarding fuel dumping

I just saw the NOVA program about how two fully loaded 747 jumbo jets
collided on a fog-blanketed runway on the island of Tenerife, claiming
the lives of 583 people in 1977. The pilot of the KLM plane ordered
his plane to be refueled, so he rolled down the runway with 55 tons of
fuel for a flight to Las Palmas, which would take at most a half hour.
The program said it was enough fuel to get the plane back to Amsterdam,
let alone Las Palmas. It was obvious that the extra fuel fed the blaze
that killed everyone on board and prevented the plane from making a
slightly faster takeoff, which could have averted the disaster.

My question is this: When should the pilot of a commercial jet dump his
fuel in flight? He obviously wasn't going to do that and was going
to land very heavy. Under what conditions is fuel dumping necessary.

Thanks.

AJ

AJ wrote:
I just saw the NOVA program about how two fully loaded 747 jumbo jets
collided on a fog-blanketed runway on the island of Tenerife, claiming
the lives of 583 people in 1977. The pilot of the KLM plane ordered
his plane to be refueled, so he rolled down the runway with 55 tons of
fuel for a flight to Las Palmas, which would take at most a half hour.
The program said it was enough fuel to get the plane back to Amsterdam,
let alone Las Palmas. It was obvious that the extra fuel fed the blaze
that killed everyone on board and prevented the plane from making a
slightly faster takeoff, which could have averted the disaster.

My question is this: When should the pilot of a commercial jet dump his
fuel in flight? He obviously wasn't going to do that and was going
to land very heavy. Under what conditions is fuel dumping necessary.

Thanks.

AJ

Over the ocean

Christopher

AJ wrote
My question is this: When should the pilot of a commercial jet dump his
fuel in flight? He obviously wasn't going to do that and was going
to land very heavy. Under what conditions is fuel dumping necessary.

As a former B-707 PIC, I would dump fuel if an emergency forced a
landing at an unplanned airport with a too short runway, or if the
maintenance staff at the airport was not equipped to handle the
necessary 'overweight landing inspection' if fuel were not dumped.

The fuel on the KLM B-747 would not have put it anywhere close to
maximum landing weight at Las Palmas.

We often 'tankered' extra fuel based on the price differential between
different airports.

Bob Moore
ATP B-707 B-727
PanAm (retired)

"Christopher Range" wrote in message Over the ocean

This answer is somewhat misleading.

D.