'The center of gravity of the plane could change so significantly that the plane could become uncontrollable.' 'If the horse can move around, it can change the weight and balance of the aircraft,' said David Fisichella, president of the nonprofit Cape Cod Aero Club in Falmouth. 'The horse managed to escape the stall.We cannot get the horse secured,' the pilot told the controller. Loose cargo is the bigger concern, Wolf said, especially when that cargo is a large animal confined to a pressurized airplane. 'That amount of jet fuel in the atmosphere is not a good thing, but the quantity is not significant enough to have a major impact,' he said. The jet was flying at an altitude of 22,000 feet, high enough for the fuel to evaporate and minimize any environmental impact, Wolf said. Kennedy International Airport about 90 minutes before.īecause landings require less weight than takeoffs, the fuel dump was necessary ahead of the unexpected return, said Dan Wolf, founder and board chairman of Cape Air in Hyannis. The pilot of the Air Atlanta Icelandic flight was cleared to dump the fuel, a 20-minute process that began 10 miles west of Martha's Vineyard and was completed over the Atlantic, east of Nantucket.
An international cargo plane on Thursday dumped 6,000 gallons of fuel over the Cape and Islands during an emergency return to New York after a horse aboard the jet escaped its stall.
