[NonValueAdded]

But if the solution is to land the plane, why not land it at its destination after burning off the fuel for a purpose rather than dumping it?

[cpdiii]

But if the solution is to land the plane, why not land it at its destination after burning off the fuel for a purpose rather than dumping it?

It would be in a high drag configuration and thus would not have enough fuel to make it to London.

[hattend]

If the flaps are jammed down, you would burn a lot of fuel fighting the drag all the way to destination.

Probably only make southern Italy instead of London. But then, ANYWHERE is better than Riyadh.

[zipper]

But if the solution is to land the plane, why not land it at its destination after burning off the fuel for a purpose rather than dumping it?

Because if the flaps were extended then the drag would increase so much they couldn't make it to their destination. It's a long way to the UK from Riyadh.

There are other considerations too, such as greater runway length required for landing due to the higher speeds (destination may not have a long enough runway), the availability of maintenance there to work on the airplane, lower speeds and altitude required to avoid flap overspeed, etc.

[Squawk 8888]

If the flaps are partially deployed, (1) it would be unsafe to go anywhere near cruise speed and (2) your fuel burn would be so high you’d never make your destination.