Fuel Decision in Military Aviation
Rossian - one of our blokes took off from Dubai once and immediately realised he was struggling. No question of turning of course so all he could do is climb straight ahead with emergency 101.5 % set, hope for the best and try not to think of the JPTs. He reckoned he was 10 miles out as he passed 500'. In those days Dubai was basically surrounded by sand so luckily there was nothing to hit - I'm not sure how it would pan out these days.
TTN
Those parts often suffer from a strong temperature inversion that means, you can be "trapped" if power limited. This is particularly likely with military aircraft. Of course, with a known low level temp inversion, one would be wise to consider the inversion in the take-off performance calculations.
OAP
Those parts often suffer from a strong temperature inversion that means, you can be "trapped" if power limited. This is particularly likely with military aircraft. Of course, with a known low level temp inversion, one would be wise to consider the inversion in the take-off performance calculations.
OAP
LW20
It is not straightforward to just lump Mil Ops into being "different" as regards fuel planning. Some Mil operations use very accurate flightplanning that is essentially identical to civvi. Most fast-jet flying is designed around the fuel load available and the task. Tankers often operate missions with 100+ton fuel loads using a totally flexible MDR plan.
So, apart from the pre-planned Jetplan type tasks, the rest is totally flexible because........
OAP
It is not straightforward to just lump Mil Ops into being "different" as regards fuel planning. Some Mil operations use very accurate flightplanning that is essentially identical to civvi. Most fast-jet flying is designed around the fuel load available and the task. Tankers often operate missions with 100+ton fuel loads using a totally flexible MDR plan.
So, apart from the pre-planned Jetplan type tasks, the rest is totally flexible because........OAP
WIDN62, you are absolutely spot on.I was a Mission Planner at Lyneham many moons ago and when we generated the Flight Plan, we always went out of our way to maximise the payload. More often than not this meant flag-stops in either PIK or KEF to achieve this when west bound. It was a rare occasion to bin off payload in my experience.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
TTN, do you remember the tale of the Victor, lost the feed for half the fuel?
Every so often the brains trust asked fuel remaining, divided the result, recalculated endurance.
Curiously, when the fuel remaining equalled half the original fuel unusable the engines stopped.
Every so often the brains trust asked fuel remaining, divided the result, recalculated endurance.
Curiously, when the fuel remaining equalled half the original fuel unusable the engines stopped.
Too much, too little
Going from Tucson non-stop to San Juan, PR on a USAFR KC-135 to conduct A-7 departure training for the PRANG in their aircraft. The 135 was also dragging 4 of our F-100s to do some dissimilar after we completed the departure training.
Scheduled takeoff from Davis-[Monthan was around 0800 with the 100s going out of Tucson Int'l at the same time to join up.....
.....well, the 135 had a Mx problem (100s were held at TUS) which wasn't fixed until around 1000. when the desert temperature had gone up about 20-30 degrees. 135 guys had taken on fuel for an 0800 departure so now they had "too much", even for a 13,000 foot runway. So they took the runway and ran up the engines and we sat there shaking with brakes on for about 5 or so minutes while they 'lightened up'. When they decided they could make it they notified the Huns and off we went, actually getting airborne on the departure end overrun.
Long story short, we get about 200 miles out of San Juan, thunderstorms all around and in the SJ area, so they 'top off' the Huns, just in case. As we get closer the loadmaster comes back with wide eyes and says, 'we only have enough fuel for one approach'. We make it and taxi in and he comes back again and says, 'we need to have you all come forward so we can put the tailstand in when we park so we don't fall back on the tail'....."too little".
We had a great week there, and then a USAFR 135 shows up to take us home.
Same crew.
Fortunately we were only going to Miami on the first leg.
Scheduled takeoff from Davis-[Monthan was around 0800 with the 100s going out of Tucson Int'l at the same time to join up.....
.....well, the 135 had a Mx problem (100s were held at TUS) which wasn't fixed until around 1000. when the desert temperature had gone up about 20-30 degrees. 135 guys had taken on fuel for an 0800 departure so now they had "too much", even for a 13,000 foot runway. So they took the runway and ran up the engines and we sat there shaking with brakes on for about 5 or so minutes while they 'lightened up'. When they decided they could make it they notified the Huns and off we went, actually getting airborne on the departure end overrun.
Long story short, we get about 200 miles out of San Juan, thunderstorms all around and in the SJ area, so they 'top off' the Huns, just in case. As we get closer the loadmaster comes back with wide eyes and says, 'we only have enough fuel for one approach'. We make it and taxi in and he comes back again and says, 'we need to have you all come forward so we can put the tailstand in when we park so we don't fall back on the tail'....."too little".
We had a great week there, and then a USAFR 135 shows up to take us home.
Same crew.
Fortunately we were only going to Miami on the first leg.
Originally Posted by Rwy_in_Sight
I thought all the aircraft are certified to land at maximum take off weight so that is not a problem.
Last edited by Courtney Mil; 24th Mar 2016 at 23:56. Reason: Correcting autocorrect's correction of Rwy_in_Sight's name.
Curiously, when the fuel remaining equalled half the original fuel unusable the engines stopped.
Actually I never heard that one, must be after my time.