#1567: DryFly

I’m astonished that sometimes airliners dump fuel into the air without being involved in an emergency landing.

Even if it can be justified by virtue of the reduction in undercarriage damage, just spraying kerosene, especially over populated areas, can’t be acceptable in terms of human health or cost.

Today’s invention is a reusable auxiliary fuel tank for airliners in the form of a long flexible tube. This would have a valve at one end and a tough, wire-reinforced outer coating (like an offshore hose).

In flight, fuel could be drawn through the valve for use by the engines. If a landing was in prospect with too much fuel in board, several of these hoses would have surplus liquid from the main tanks pumped into them, be sealed and then extruded from the belly of the aircraft during the final approach to the runway.

The hoses, would impact the ground and flex, as in a parachute landing fall, spreading the shock as more of their length came into contact with the earth.

The hoses could be coloured for easy retrieval from the designated drop zone at an airport and multiply reused.