fuel dump vs fuel burn?

We can dump fuel in very heavy aircraft, such as the B747 and the facility is there because of the huge amounts of fuel we carry, a B747-400 can carry about 180 tonnes of the stuff.

It is far easier to land safely if you can get the weight down.

Of course, an aircraft such as a Beech 19 or a Q400 does not carry anything like the same amount of fuel, so getting rid of fuel is not so important in that aircraft, it can land at higher relative weight, so fuel dumping may not be available.

In fact, it takes time to dump fuel, we can only dump about one tonne per minute so losing 120 tonnes would take a couple of hours. If we don't have 2 hours, we will land anyway, but we will be very careful doing so.

We are, as Rick says, only allowed to dump over water, so flying over Asia or the USA it isn't a lot of use to you!

Nor is it something to do when you are a long way from an airport. Starting to dump is one thing, but if you can't stop dumping then you are up the creek without a paddle unless you can land.

Ever since fuel has become expensive and makes OPEC countries richer every other year, airlines do their best to avoid dumping fuel for weight reduction -

My last airline, issued policies to only dump fuel in case of absolute necessity, that is to land an airplane on a short runway in an emergency - And we do not care where we dump fuel, over the water or over a city if it is an emergency -

Note to Erase Program Read Only Memory - be aware that ALL FAR 25 and JAR 25 airplanes, that is Airbus as well as Boeings must be flight tested to land AT THEIR MAX TAKEOFF WEIGHT - it is not only that Airbus type you mention but all types of airplanes can do it - Obviously, they need a long runway and maybe (?) brakes will be hot -

I have flown a hair below 40 years with airlines, and never had to jettison fuel, even though all airplanes I flew were equipped with that system - I have landed a few times over the maximum landing weight with agreement of the director of operations or chief pilot on duty when such circumstances required us to land overweight -

As captain, I was smart enough to leave the decision to land overweight to the top guys in the management office back at the base -

And overweight landing inspection takes a couple of hours -

During my A330 Ground Engineer Course that was about 1996 the A330 at that time has powerful engines CF680E1 that it is at that time the only aircraft capable to land on its Take-Off weight. That is why unlike the A340 it has no jettison valves to dump fuel since it doesn't need it.

Fuels are too expensive

fundamental rule of aviation:

"three useless things to pilot are

1. altitude above

2. runway behind

3. second that just passed"

i mean, you only have too much fuel onboard if you're about to encounter an onboard fire.

the helicopter i am flying, eats up to 1000 liters per hour.. that's actually comparable to the Airbus 319 our base operates, which is interesting trivia. now, imagine bucketing 1000 liters perhour through your basin. well, that's the size of the hole to have fuel dump flow similar to fuel consumption at maximum power.

you really want an extra [for all purposes] HOLE in the aircraft with a potential to leak the fuel, IN CASE of unlikely occurence where emergency happens in the first hour or so, over water, of such nature that it cannot be solved by fuel burn?

in that case, i suggest you to request the airliners to simply carry drop tanks...