Overweight Landing What to Consider

An overweight landing is defined as a landing made at a gross weight in excess of the maximum design (i.e., structural) landing weight for a particular model. A pilot may consider making an overweight landing when a situation arises that requires the airplane to return to the takeoff airport or divert to another airport soon after takeoff. In these cases, the airplane may arrive at the landing airport at a weight considerably above the maximum design landing weight. The pilot must then decide whether to reduce the weight prior to landing or land overweight. The weight can be reduced either by holding to burn off fuel or by jettisoning fuel. There are important issues to consider when a decision must be made to land overweight, burn off fuel, or jettison fuel (when possible).

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