Fuel Jettison

[Fish]

Can't see anything in the documentation. Perhaps it can't be done in real live also. Be interested to know why. Anyone who knows better like to comment ?

 

Cheers.

[Snoopy]

Nope, the A-10 has no way to dump fuel and if she is in flight it's an automatic IFE or air abort. As to why she just wasn't designed to.

[ronht]

If you need to jettison fuel, go find a Shrika to put some holes in your wings - works great!

:D

[Cali]

It will vent fuel if you have a major problem. Use to hate doing IFR checks when she was full of fuel. Always had to have a bowser under the vent mast.

[amalahama]

Fuel dump system is not very popular among ground-based fighters - you always can get rid of your ordinance and have a real weight decrease in case of an emergency situation. Comercial airplanes cannot get rid of passanger so easily though - that's why I guess it's mandatory for them (nonetheless I would throw the classic snorting guy or crying boy sat next to me overboard , oh dear, how I miss an "emergency Jettison" button sometimes! :D)

 

Regards!

Edited November 16, 2011 by amalahama

[GGM]

If you need to jettison fuel, go find a Shrika to put some holes in your wings - works great!

:D

LOL

[Snoopy]

It will vent fuel if you have a major problem. Use to hate doing IFR checks when she was full of fuel. Always had to have a bowser under the vent mast.

 

Not to mention on a nice hot summer day...

 

"Looks like someone forgot to put on summer loads, we need a fuel bowser over here"

[Fish]

- you always can get rid of your ordinance and have a real weight decrease in case of an emergency situation.

 

Weight reduction is not the only reason to emerg land low on fuel. In emerg land, risk of a fireball from it is real and constant. (but unlikely the amount of fuel in the tanks and risk of explosion is modelled in dcs anyhow)

Edited November 16, 2011 by Fish

[wolfstriked]

Is my landing with full fuel and full loadouts not realistic then?I think that would be a big waste of money to dump ordnance and fuel just to land with minimal safety issues.

[JG2_Miller]

In my eyes it would be an even bigger waste of money to see an A-10 covered in a really big fireball.

[Snoopy]

Is my landing with full fuel and full loadouts not realistic then?I think that would be a big waste of money to dump ordnance and fuel just to land with minimal safety issues.

 

The only time we jettison weapons is because of an emergency.

[EtherealN]

wolfstriked,

I'd say a better idea if you by "full loadouts" mean the classic 6x Mavs and everything else full with the heaviest ordnance you could get your hands on, is to just fly off some of that fuel. Can't recall the permissable landing weights for the A-10 off the top of my head, but I wouldn't land fat if I had the option not to. Just go cirquit somewhere to get rid of that fuel.

 

And waste of money, sure, but a bigger waste of money is having to shut down an aerodrome for repairs, replace an aircraft, replace you, etcetera after you fireballed the whole county. :P

[Fish]

Is my landing with full fuel and full loadouts not realistic then?I think that would be a big waste of money to dump ordnance and fuel just to land with minimal safety issues.

 

Only talking about emergency procedures. Don't panic !!. Normally should be no issue with fuel and ordinance, in in fact i prefer the challenge of a loaded hog for me landings.

 

Just go cirquit somewhere to get rid of that fuel.:P

Recent landing with one engine made me think, cause of the yaw induced by throttling up close to the threshold. Would have been better off with a lighter aircraft. If you have progressive systems failure due to excessive damage, patterns to bleed off fuel with a single engine for example is not, i expect, really a good idea.

Edited November 16, 2011 by Fish

[amalahama]

The only time we jettison weapons is because of an emergency.

 

After reading "A-10's over Kosovo" and "Warthog: Flying the A-10 during the gulf war", it was surprising that, even with heavy battle damage, they almost never jettisoned the ordinance. I always thought that, after taking damage, releasing all the stores was mandatory!

 

Regards!

[Fish]

After reading "A-10's over Kosovo" and "Warthog: Flying the A-10 during the gulf war", it was surprising that, even with heavy battle damage, they almost never jettisoned the ordinance. I always thought that, after taking damage, releasing all the stores was mandatory!

 

Regards!

 

I'm sure there's emergency protocols based on risk assessment and determined by the seriousness of the damage, and/or systems failure.

[Eddie]

I always thought that, after taking damage, releasing all the stores was mandatory!

 

Not at all, checklist will advise jettisoning stores if required but they never mandate it. A emergency checklist may state actions that result it the need to dump stores, but they wont state to always dump stores.

 

For example landing gear issues in the harrier require a vertical landing which is usually not possible with heavy weapon loads, which would mean the pilot would jettison weapons to bring the jet within weight limits, but the checklist itself doesn't require it.

[bluepilot76]

It's not mandatory to have fuel dumping in commercial aviation, for example the 737 does not have that facility, and nowadays it would only happen in an emergency as fuel is getting a bit expensive.

I should think the A10 could land with any amount of fuel and stores which is not the case for eg 747

If things are that bad that your contemplating having to crash land with lots of fuel or bombs that you can't expend for some reason, I would think the correct procedure is to pull the yellow/ black handle. Sure the USAF has a few spare A 10 sitting around in a desert somewhere

[bluepilot76]

Fish, about your asymmetric throttleup near the threshold...when I was learning to fly twins, was taught to choose a ACA asymmetric comittal altitude. For us it way soothing like 600ft aal.

You have to decide before that whether you are committed or not. Once you are, you are landing. You wouldn't really need a fist full of throttle unless you had screwed up your approach, however it shouldn't be the end of your life if you do, you have your rudder, but basically ACA should be your latest go around height , the idea is there is plenty of altitude/ time to spool it up nice and smooth, get it back up to Vyse and fly another circuit.

 

Just to add, the ACAwas your decision height, but it didn't mean you couldn't descend below that. The height was there for you to use to safely accelerate to Vyse.

[Mack]

I can't see fuel jettison, or much less ordnance jettison, as accepted practice short of major problems.

[AlphaOneSix]

For commercial aviation, a way to dump fuel is only required if the aircraft has a higher maximum takeoff weight than its maximum landing weight.

[Mack]

Well put. :lol: The environmental officer would probably still prefer an environmental impact estimate first, though, in any case.

[Frostiken]

The way I see it, if you *had* to dump fuel, you can fly around to burn it off. If your emergency is so severe that you can't afford to do that, then you have no business even trying to land the plane and should just punch out.

[Mack]

We're getting into the weeds here, but for sake of conversation, I'll throw in. In the game, If you can reasonably bring the ship home, why wouldn't you? If for nothing else to practice landing in adverse conditions. The hog has a zero zero ejection seat so even if things turn bad you have a chance of escape. In real life, ditching a ship involves paperwork and explaining yourself. Very distasteful business I bet.

[Frostiken]

Yeah well, that's fine because this is a game... so you can do what you want, really. This discussion mostly stems from why certain features are a certain way, and what happens in real life though.

[Snoopy]

We're getting into the weeds here, but for sake of conversation, I'll throw in. In the game, If you can reasonably bring the ship home, why wouldn't you? If for nothing else to practice landing in adverse conditions. The hog has a zero zero ejection seat so even if things turn bad you have a chance of escape. In real life, ditching a ship involves paperwork and explaining yourself. Very distasteful business I bet.

 

That and after so many ejections you fly a desk because of spinal compression....