Heard via text from co-worker on plane they are returning to MCO.
Hold your breath and we will see… 
And they returned uneventfully at 17:26 EST. 
Nose gear would not retract.
Yup…just heard from him. And now the re-booking process headache begins!!!
Better than retracting and then not coming down
Been there done that…he needs to haul ass thru the terminal and find the first or next flight out of there. But its MCO…he wont have any probs…just more time at the bar. 
I saw this plane fly over my house with it’s gear down at only 4,000 feet, so I knew something was up. At one point, I noticed a thick white vapor coming off of the wingtips. I didn’t think they actually “dumped” fuel, but that’s what it looked like.
They can’t dump fuel, I don’t think. Correct me if I’m wrong.
In the case of an emergency you can.
I would think a MD has fuel dumping but I don’t think they’d do it over a residential area.
They have special airspace designated for the dumping of fuel… but I would think it’d be a little bit higher than 4,000 feet.
Honestly if I have full Tip tanks and I lose an engiene close to the ground- you can bet I will be jettisoning fuel, I don’t care how low I am or if I’m over a kindergarten that fuel has to go.
Good luck telling that to the FAA… honestly though I couldn’t blame you…especially with tip tanks, I would not be trying to go back at gross.
I have no problem telling that to the FAA- with 1100lbs that from from the center of thrust you have no choice.
The area where the MD-82 appeared to be dumping fuel was just over, or around John’s Lake, which is just barely south of where Lake Apopka is. If anyone doesn’t know where lake Apopka is, it’s the biggest lake around the area of the flightpath and the flightpath actually went over the lake at one time as the plane was circling. He was at 4,000 feet when I saw the thick white vapor coming from the wing tips. If a pilot were to dump fuel from an MD-82, would it come out of the wingtips?
You could have seen wingtip vortices…but yes everything you say adds up… fuel does come out of the wingtips on an MD… and when you’re directed to dump fuel, it’s prefered you do it over water.
I’ve seen wingtip vortices before and the white trail seemed much larger than that. That’s cool to know about the the MD series of aircraft. Do the Boeing 7 series jets also dump from the wing tips?
They do… just behind the winglet (on the 747-400 atleast) and pretty much all other commercial airliners, ill have to do some research on the ones that don’t.
Airbuses jettison fuel along the middle of the wings… on the A340 you would find it bettwen the engines on both sides of the aircraft.
Note During the 1960s, Boeing introduced the 737, and Douglas the DC-9, the original models of each being for shorter routes; the 105% figure was not an issue, thus they had no fuel dump systems installed. During the 1960s and 1970s, both Boeing and Douglas “grew” their respective aircraft as far as operational capabilities were concerned via Pratt & Whitney’s development of increasingly powerful variants of the JT8D engines that powered both aircraft series. Both aircraft were now capable of longer duration flights, with increased weight limits, and complying with the existing 105% rule became problematic due to the costs associated with adding a fuel dump system to aircraft in production. Considering the more powerful engines that had been developed, the FAA changed the rules to delete the 105% requirement, and FAR 25.1001 was enacted stating a jettison system was not required if the climb requirements of FAR 25.119 (Landing Climb) and FAR 25.121 (Approach Climb) could be met, assuming a 15-minute flight. In other words, for a go-around with full landing flaps and all engines operating, and at approach flap setting and one engine inoperative, respectively.
Since most twinjet airliners can meet these requirements, most aircraft of this type such as the Boeing 737 (all models), the DC-9/MD80 and Boeing 717, the A320 family and various regional jet (“RJ”) aircraft do not have fuel dump systems installed. In the event of an emergency requiring a return to the departure airport, the aircraft circles nearby in order to consume fuel to get down to within the maximum structural landing weight limit, or if the situation demands it, simply lands overweight without delay. Modern aircraft are designed for possible overweight landings in mind, but this is not done except in cases of emergency, and various maintenance inspections are required afterwards.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_dumping
I was somewhat wrong earlier… some MD-80s have a fuel dump system but most don’t. The situation though that you described sounded a lot like a fuel dump.