Friday, September 23, 2005

How Do You Dump Fuel From a Plane? - Just turn on your fuel dumping system. By Daniel Engber

Dumped fuel flows out behind the plane like a contrail, and then most of it evaporates before it reaches the ground. Exactly how much of the fuel plume evaporates depends on several factors, including altitude, air temperature, and dumping pressure. In general, at least half of the fuel—and sometimes more than 99 percent of it—will dissipate. Fuel dumped from a high altitude in warm weather disperses best.

The Federal Aviation Administration's dumping policy prescribes a minimum altitude for dumping, and a five-mile separation from other aircraft. Air traffic controllers try to direct dumping planes away from populated areas and toward large bodies of water. (Experts guess that more than 15 million pounds of jettisoned fuel rained down into the oceans from civilian and military aircraft during the 1990s.)

// posted by Unknown @ 11:03 a.m.
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