I'll defer to the experts, but this seems like it could have had a far worse….
Whilst I don’t think continuing was necessarily a good choice, it’s quite possible that there was no indication that there was as much damage as there was. There may have been a tyre pressure warning, if the sensor survived, but it might have simply “X-ed” itself out. I don’t know if you could see the fairing from the cabin, as I’ve never sat anywhere near the spot. The tail camera might have seen it, but only if it was being lit.
I don’t have a good recollection of the inside of the bay, but generally the designers are smart enough not to put critical plumbing in the line of fire of a failing tyre, and such failure is very much a consideration.
The flying decision often comes back to picking the least worst option. There was no reason to hurry at getting back on to the ground. Fuel dump would have taken at least an hour, and even when complete would have left you 50 tonnes over maximum landing weight, and probably 80 or so over the planned landing weight. Given that with tyre damage, and other possible damage affecting the landing roll, you’d want to be landing at the minimum weight possible, you’re probably committed to at least a 7 hour flight, even if it goes nowhere. Choosing the quicker option of overweight landing with tyre damage, would be the actual worst option, with the most chance of that “far worse” outcome.
Its just a fairing covering an unpressurised section of the fuselage - used for appearances but it adds streamlinining which reduces drag. Not structural
Might have caused some noise though
It’s a bit more than the average cosmetic fairing though, much more of a secondary structure that just happens to be unpressurised. Shedding large parts of either the fairing, or gear doors, due to air loads is a real consideration of any high speed flight, and there’s no guarantee at all that they‘ll simply fall away. QF30 had strike damage on the opposite side of the fuselage from its main damage, so bits had been thrown there by the airflows.
LAN flight SCL-SYD
Hole in wing covered by speed tape.
View attachment 283560
I hope that image isn’t real!
I would imagine would be a distinct sound from the airflow down near the hole? Perhaps the pilots got the crew to check, not themselves?
Probably, but not necessarily. Cabin crew are probably the best people to check for strange goings on in the cabin, as they’re there every day. The pilots don’t always have familiarity with the normal noises back there.
Overweight landing with an expected one tyre burst or continue on to BNE for Normal landing, the latter would be procedure right? I mean it’s only one tyre with no other bells and whistles going off.
As discussed above, there is no reason to do an overweight landing, even if you stay at Dubai. Personally, I’d have taken the 7 hour holding pattern.