Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!husc6!bbn!rochester!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cwjcc!hal!nic.MR.NET!tank!mimsy!eneevax!haven!purdue!decwrl!hplabs!hpda!hpcuhb!hpindda!mears
From: mears@hpindda.HP.COM (David B. Mears)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: shuttle landing sites
Message-ID: <3330011@hpindda.HP.COM>
Date: 2 Nov 88 23:56:57 GMT
References: <1988Oct10.224026.12802@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: HP Information Networks, Cupertino, CA
Lines: 23

> / hpindda:sci.space.shuttle / dkrause@orion.cf.uci.edu (Doug Krause) /  4:18 am  Nov  1, 1988 /
> 
> I can't quote weights of either craft, but I know that if a 747 going
> out of LAX has to abort the flight, it has to dump most of it's fuel
> into the Pacific before returning to land.  Now I don't know if the
> weak part is the landing gear or the runway, but a loaded 747 is ob-
> viously VERY heavy.
> 
> Douglas Krause             "East is east... let's keep it that way."
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> University of California, Irvine   ARPANET: dkrause@orion.cf.uci.edu
> "Irvine?  Where's Irvine?"         BITNET: DJKrause@ucivmsa
> ----------

I would hazard a guess that dumping the fuel has nothing to do with the
weight of the aircraft, but is done for fire safety reasons.  I think
this is pretty standard in commercial aviation (though I could be
mistaken).

David B. Mears
Hewlett-Packard
Cupertino CA
hplabs!hpda!mears