Posted on 07/12/2014 4:25:25 PM PDT by kristinn
Overweight landings are not that uncommon. They rarely result in anything more than the inspection.
Not only does a passenger airliner have to be able to make a max TO weight landing, it has to be able to reject a max TO weight takeoff. Haul ass at TO thrust to get up in the air, and then slam on the brakes at the last moment before rotation, while fully loaded.
The brakes have to be able to handle both situations.
Look up “rejected takeoff test”.
Landings at max TO weight are extremely rare. It would have to be a dire situation where the pilot had no time to wait at all.
A medical emergency is a common reason to get down quickly without taking time to dump or burn off fuel.
Hard landings while not overweight, and tail strikes, are the most common cause of damage during landing, iirc.
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