On 6/21/2012 2:25 PM, DevilsPGD wrote:
In the last episode , Sancho Panza
said:

In view of the experience of the JetBlue flight that had hydraulic
problems on departing Las Vegas for New York and had to fly around Vegas
for hours to consume fuel before landing at McCarran, is it accurate to
say that the Airbus A-320 can't dump fuel and that F.A.A., among other
authorities, has approved the plane despite that?

A more interesting question, from a total layman, is this: If they were
willing to fly around in circles for hours, why not fly people to their
destination for hours instead?

Depending on the type of malfunction, I can see them not wanting to be
particularly far from a runway and perhaps this was that type of
situation, but at least from my point of view, if an aircraft isn't
airworthy enough to make a flight, it should be on the ground as soon as
is reasonably possible.

That is analogous to the question surrounding the event that got JetBlue
its most publicity--sitting on the tarmac for seven hours when they
might have parked at a gate and discharged the passengers.