How The F-111 Aardvark Does The Dump and Burn
YouTube / Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum
Awesome Feature
In this video, Gen. O’Mara tells us more about the F-111’s fuel dump valve.
According to him, if you took off, lost an engine, and you had fuel tanks on the wings, you’d want to lighten the aircraft before you came in to land so that you can decrease the final approach speed.
Luckily for them, Aardvark pilots have a switch in the cockpit that allows them to dump as much fuel as they wanted to.
“It also had a playful application- if you went to dump and hit the afterburner, you put a 75-foot flame out of the back and that impressed the onlookers,” he mused. He also added that the torch was bright and intense enough for satellites in space to detect them.
No wonder Dump and Burns are always very spectacular to watch!
