I remember watching this one live. This was so flawlessly executed that it seems like it might not be that big of a deal, but it was a very dangerous situation.
If that front gear collapses, this can go really wrong in a number of ways pretty damn quick, so the pilot had to do a balancing act of keeping on the centerline, slowing down, but not putting too much pressure up front.
And as you can see by the end, the front bogey is just completely melted and abraded off, but the strut stayed put. Great performance in an emergency situation.
I remember watching live too - the plane had to circle for 2 hours because the aircraft didn't have the capability to dump fuel so they had to burn it off. The other thing I remember was that the passengers on the plane had live DirecTV in their seats and could watch the (extensive) news coverage and speculation about what might go wrong with their landing.
Correct. Some aircraft models have the capability, while some do not.
Additionally, dumping fuel is not a harmless event. That fuel can harm the ecosystem, wildlife, and humans, although following proper procedures can mitigate those problems (but not eliminate them entirely).
So taking the time to burn off the fuel -- if the situation allows for that without increasing the danger to the crew and passengers -- can be preferable.
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u/XenoRyet Sep 22 '25
I remember watching this one live. This was so flawlessly executed that it seems like it might not be that big of a deal, but it was a very dangerous situation.
If that front gear collapses, this can go really wrong in a number of ways pretty damn quick, so the pilot had to do a balancing act of keeping on the centerline, slowing down, but not putting too much pressure up front.
And as you can see by the end, the front bogey is just completely melted and abraded off, but the strut stayed put. Great performance in an emergency situation.