Robert M. Gary wrote:
In the case of the A320, or the 737, they can both land with a full
load of fuel.

Then why did Jet Blue fly around for 3 hours burning fuel before
landing back in LAX? It seems like if there is a real reason to want
to burn off fuel there would be a real way to get rid of the fuel. I
can dump fuel even in my Mooney.

-Robert

They burned off the fuel to reduce weight. Less weight means a lower
approach and touchdown speed. Less weight means less mass to slow down
once they're on the ground. I would imagine they turned their autobrakes
off since, without nosewheel steering, they would need to use differential
braking for steering purposes. Minimum weight would allow them to not have
to land right at the beginning of the runway and not have to use excessive
braking to stop the aircraft within the runway length. This way they could
concentrate on a smooth touchdown and slow lowering of the nose gear.

I made an emergency landing on 25R at LAX in a 737-200 which had lost all
hydraulic power and the electrical emergency flap extension failed also. So
we had to make a manual reversion no-flap landing with emergency gear
extension. We had no nose wheel steering and used differential braking for
steering. We had to be careful with it since we only had accumulator power
for brakes and thrust reversers. We got it stopped about half way down the
runway and then were towed to our gate.

--

Darrell R. Schmidt
B-58 Hustler History: http://members.cox.net/dschmidt1/
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