Yes, it rather seems to me this is probably precisely the reason all other planes don't have the fuel dump nozzle right by the engines.

I suppose, on the other hand, that at least in this situation, the alternative is spraying the crowd with kerosene, which is probably frowned upon.

Neato! I knew this thread had the could be a generator of information.

>> ^bareboards2:

From my ex-military pilot, currently sim military pilot trainer big brother, in response to this vid:
My Fuel Boom Operator Friend says the static discharge is no biggie, he would plug this guy and give him all the fuel he wants. He wouldn't let him close within a 1/2 mile without seeing him though. Once he sees him he will let the vis drop a bit more. He estimates the video is showing greater than 1/2 mile vis. Which means he would be closing on a radar return outside of the 1/2 mile point - skin paint only. The WX radar has to be off when he gets this close. Theoretically, the WX Radar might trigger a big boom.
I dumped fuel inflight in the vicinity of lightning once as we were in a world of hurt (Unsafe gear, no brakes, hydraulic leak all over said gear and brakes) - and there were no rules against it - and since I didn't blow up no new rules were written. This was my best opportunity to have my own WARNING in the aircraft manual - they are usually written in someone's blood.
I had an F-111 driver tell me the story about when he was frustrated with his wing man during a rejoin because his wingman couldn't find him in the weather at night. His dump mast was between the engines near the exhaust. So he hit dump, turned ff fuel dump, and then quickly went to afterburners. He claims the resulting fuel air blast could be seen with your eyes closed.

From my ex-military pilot, currently sim military pilot trainer big brother, in response to this vid:

My Fuel Boom Operator Friend says the static discharge is no biggie, he would plug this guy and give him all the fuel he wants. He wouldn't let him close within a 1/2 mile without seeing him though. Once he sees him he will let the vis drop a bit more. He estimates the video is showing greater than 1/2 mile vis. Which means he would be closing on a radar return outside of the 1/2 mile point - skin paint only. The WX radar has to be off when he gets this close. Theoretically, the WX Radar might trigger a big boom.

I dumped fuel inflight in the vicinity of lightning once as we were in a world of hurt (Unsafe gear, no brakes, hydraulic leak all over said gear and brakes) - and there were no rules against it - and since I didn't blow up no new rules were written. This was my best opportunity to have my own WARNING in the aircraft manual - they are usually written in someone's blood.

I had an F-111 driver tell me the story about when he was frustrated with his wing man during a rejoin because his wingman couldn't find him in the weather at night. His dump mast was between the engines near the exhaust. So he hit dump, turned ff fuel dump, and then quickly went to afterburners. He claims the resulting fuel air blast could be seen with your eyes closed.

This is perfectly normal procedure when a plane has to return to/land at an airport when heavily laden with fuel. It's not to reduce the risk of explosions on landing impact, it's simply because the plane is too heavy to land with all that fuel on board. Planes have a maximum landing weight that the aircraft body and landing gear can withstand, and this weight is always less than the maximum take off weight. So, if a plane has to make an emergency landing (in this case due to a hydraulic issue), they need to dump the fuel to get it below the maximum landing weight.

Saying that, fuel dumping normally occurs out at sea (for coastal airports) or over uninhabited land. However in this case, that could obviously not be done.

... in an emergency (as in the plane could potentially crash), fuel dumping is the last thing on the pilot's mind... what if the pilot dumps the fuel and recovers from the emergency? He may have dumped too much fuel to get to the nearest airport.
>> ^ponceleon:

Interesting but I have to wonder whether it is a matter of an emergency. Ultimately if a plane is having an emergency and can dump the fuel to reduce risk of explosions on impact (or elsewhere) I don't see a problem. I'd rather have a plane with little fuel falling out of the sky than a plane full of fuel falling out of the sky.

>> ^fjules:
Only one thing i don't get - how come the spiral is moving so slow? Shouldn't the gravity pull that shit down? Why is it symmetrical on both sides, shouldn't it be skewed because of gravity? Or the rocket was really that high in space? Then again - if it was, would we see THAT much fuel from THAT distance?
I know this is from rocket, I am just not a physics guy so I don't completely get how spiral is formed.


As an amateur astronomer, I spend a lot of time in the dark looking up. I've had the good fortune to witness a fuel dump once and it was very similar. Quite surprising, although in my case it was merely a cloud, not a spiral.

I'm guessing it's a fuel dump... I don't know why they'd dump all the fuel, though.