Captains having his fuel decisions questioned by Base captains:
It is well known that one of Ryanair’s most infamous base captains has been known to arrange his office days on days when the weather forecast looks less than ideal. He doesn’t like strong crosswinds much; same goes for snow or TSRA and all the other things in a pilot’s life, which might require that little bit extra of him.
The charming thing about said base captain: He will be the first and worst in criticizing a crew for taking extra fuel. (I am thinking the he has already long forgotten about that one evening he himself landed with LESS than final reserve fuel
)
But there are also base captains in Ryanair who respect their crew’s fuel decisions without question.
Incidentally an example of one of these base captains will have the home base TAF read PROB40 +TSRA 80% of all summer days…
So in conclusion there are different types of base captains in FR, some are better than others, a few outright gentlemen, and some outright arseholes, but most importantly some are better at withstanding the pressure from DUB, and therefore protect their crews better.
You as a pilot will have to play the cards you have been dealt, and take the fuel you need. But you can do all things right, all day, and still have to declare a fuel emergency… I wouldn’t like to point any fingers at these 4 crews just yet.
FR trivia:
If memory serves me correctly: The only mention of airmanship in FR’s ops manual is in the chapter on selection of autobrake and which rapid exit taxiway to use… go figure…
