Quote:
Originally Posted by fargon
He's dumping fuel? That's the only thing that might do that is lite oil. I don't know why planes dump fuel, but it's a thing. Philthijinx help please Sir.
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Products of combustion include water vapour which quickly freezes into ice crystals at altitude and forms condensation trails.
The rainbow effect suggests light refracted through those crystals.
Fuel dumping usually occurs in an emergency when the aircraft has to reduce to its maximum landing weight.
This can be governed by runway length available and associated braking performance, and also the need not to over stress the airframe.
Here's the ATC recording and some video from an incident where a British Airways 747 experienced an engine surge, and subsequent shut down, on departure from Phoenix.
Fuel was dumped away from residential areas and the aircraft returned safely about an hour later.