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Swiss Airbus A330 Turns 5 Hours In the Air Before Returning to Zurich
Following a technical problem at the left engine, an Airbus A330 from Swiss International Air Lines, which took off from Zurich for Newark, the United States, had to return to its departure airport quickly. But the passengers had to wait five hours before landing. (airlinerwatch.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
They couldn't cross the ocean on one engine, and that particular A330 didn't have the fuel dumping option, so they had to fly around to burn off excess fuel to lighten the load on the airframe when they touched back down in Zurich. That plane took off with enough fuel to fly to the east coast of the US, 6+ hours away plus a reserve.
Must not have been much of an "emergency" if they could circle for five hours...
The incident turned out to be an accountant's nightmare!
5 hours of generally turning in the same direction, , , , hope all had strong stomachs!
I did not do the work to see how many left turns /right turns that plane did.
If there were enough left turns the pilots/drivers might qualify to be a round track car driver?
If there were enough left turns the pilots/drivers might qualify to be a round track car driver?
One of Airbus's MAJOR design flaws.... NO ability to dump fuel. Experienced this ourselves after departing KHNL for West Coast and had a serious lightning strike right above the cockpit at FL26.5. Thank God were in a Boeing and did not have to circle for multiple hours just to dump fuel! Seen this many times with Airbus products....