The A320 was fully loaded with fuel for the flight from Burbank,
CA, to New York City, and was likely at or near its Maximum
Take-Off Weight (MTOW). With most commercial airliners, the MTOW is
higher than the Maximum Landing Weight (MLW). This discrepancy is
typical for most passenger jets and is simply due to the structural
loads the aircraft can handle. It was therefore necessary to
lighten the aircraft to bring it below its certified MLW.
It took several hours of circling to accomplish this because the
A320 is not equipped with
a fuel jettison valve to dump raw fuel overboard. In other words,
the fuel had to be burned in the engines. If you saw the video
footage of the circling A320, you would have seen that the
undercarriage and flaps were extended the whole time. This was done
in order to increase fuel consumption and reduce the time required
to use up the fuel and lighten the aircraft.
MG
