What else do you expect from a company that has it's subcontractors tell their employees to pretend as hard as they can to be the real thing?

No offense taken. My biggest beef with the FAA is I think way too often guys dump gas rather than land overweight for no other reason than they are afraid of the FAA. If you have a long dry runway and there is no problem controlling the airplane, there is no reason a crew should not land overweight.

I think Delta does a great job supporting their Captains.

There are degrees of overweight. I don't think I'd try one 200,000# overweight unless I was on fire in a bad way.

Xray;

I think you may be right about some fear of the faa. Not necessarily unjustified since your livelihood may be on the line, but:

I don't know if it is official DAL policy, but in an emergency, they are supportive of dumping fuel until you arrive at the field you are going to land at, ceasing the dumping operation, and landing. Just dont forget to run the overweight landing checklist.

There are times when dumping to get yourself to normal landing weight is justified.

Captain's authority is still alive.

You can't land cloaked. There are significant limitations on trying to fly cloaked on impulse speed, too. Only warp speed is certified for unlimited cloaking operations. You can be tracked, too. Tachion emissions will get you every time.

What exactly did he do to deserve the cone of shame?

Uncontained engine failure on Delta 747 photos

http://sitelife.aviationweek.com/ver...152f.Large.jpg

http://sitelife.aviationweek.com/ver...65bd.Large.jpg

very true. On the other hand there are times when there is no need to dump(or burn off) any gas.

Ah, that's who was dumping fuel over my house last week. Carl, did you guys snicker as you dumped over Ann Arbor? ;)

Photos have emerged of an uncontained engine failure suffered by a Delta Airlines Boeing 747-400 last week en-route from Detroit to Tokyo’s Narita airport in Japan.

The engine failure, which occurred to N661US on Oct 23, took place as the Pratt & Whitney PW4056-powered aircraft was climbing through 5,000 ft.

The crew heard a large compressor stall and muffled explosion followed by the immediate rollback of engine number two. The engine fire light then illuminated and, with this still indicating at idle power setting, the crew activated the fire bottle.

Having successfully extinguished the fire, the crew executed a text book fuel dump procedure after deciding against an over-weight landing. On return to Detroit post-flight inspections revealed severe damage to the engine and wing with large holes noted in the cowling as well as damage to slats, flaps and aileron.

As an indication of the violence of the failure, witnesses also say the engine was askew on the pylon. Investigations continue into the cause of the engine failure