EASA equivalent FAA Part 121 10% Flag Fuel

[Spooky 2]

I've looked through all of the data at hand and see no equivalent requiremnt in the ICAO regs regarding this additional fuel reserve. Can someone here that operates routinely under the EASA banner tell me or better yet point to any similar requirements

Thanks

[BOAC]

If you told us folk what 'flag fuel' is we might help.

[Spooky 2]

Sorry BOAC I assumed that others might be aware of this FAR. You know what happens when you assume. Take a look at this FAR 121.645 and see if it ring a bell in your past experience.

eCFR ? Code of Federal Regulations

Thanks again

[B737900er]

Sounds like contingency fuel to me. But what does Flag operations mean?

[de facto]

“U.S.-flag air carrier” means an air carrier holding a certificate under section 401 of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (49 U.S.C. 41102).
Contigency fuel indeed.

[Spooky 2]

No it is not a contingency fuel as there is a specific formula for the amount added. An example would if you were flying from EGLL to KJFK, 10% of the time you were in oceanic airspace would be added to the fuel for "international reserves". This has nothing to do with 30 minute international reserves. So if the flight was 8 hours and 5:30 of that was in international airspace, (think Class ll airspace) you would need an additional 33 minutes of reserve fuel. There a few varitions on this but you get my drift. I'm looking for an EASA equivalent, if there is such a thing.

[Denti]

Short version: there isn't. Even contingency fuel can be reduced to 3% or 5 minutes whichever is more.

(2) After that, to fly for a period of 10 percent of the total time required to fly from the airport of departure to, and land at, the airport to which it was released;

Sounds exactly like contingency if that is the flag fuel you mean.

[FoxHunter]

Try this, page 98.
http://easa.europa.eu/agency-measure...2012-018-R.pdf

Not sure what you were saying about international airspace with regard to FAA requirements. If you have a 10 hour flight, which is 600 minutes. The FAA requires 10% contingency fuel or 10% of 600 minutes or 60 minutes. The requirement is based on flight time from take off to landing. The fact that the first two hours are in domestic airspace has no impact on the fuel requirement.

[BOAC]

Thanks Spooky - I think the closest we can come in European Ops IS (?always was?) contingency which is (?was?) 5% of flight time for turbine and 10% for piston. This has now been 'alleviated' (if approved) at airline request to a 'statistical' figure with a bottom stop as Denti says of 3% or 5 minutes whichever is greater.

When I finished JAR/EUOPS flying, including ETOPS, in 2008 we had no requirement for a 10% figure, but other (separate) factors were considered. I know not of now, so treat the above with caution.

[Spooky 2]

FoxHunter you are wrong. Maybe that's the way you did at your previous airline but many US airlines have been granted relief on this 10% so that there is no need to carry fuel for that period which might be over domestic airspace. Usually the 10% is limited to the time spent in Class ll airspace but ther may be other considerations.

Thanks to all for your contributions to this question. The mods removed it and for the life of me I could not find it until just today. Sure would be nice if when they move my cheese they would give me a hint where to look.

[FoxHunter]

Yes, we had to use 10% but used the re-release as a method to reduce the time calculation. In any case I had heard that American used 5%. With all the advances today the 3% should be more than enough.

[Intruder]

FoxHunter you are wrong. Maybe that's the way you did at your previous airline but many US airlines have been granted relief on this 10% so that there is no need to carry fuel for that period which might be over domestic airspace. Usually the 10% is limited to the time spent in Class ll airspace but ther may be other considerations.

FoxHunter is correct, AFAIK.

The only "relief" for the 10% Reserve (which, FYI, the Europeans DO call "contingency fuel") is via a Planned Redispatch.

[MarkerInbound]

Spooky, the very reg you site says, "(2) After that, to fly for a period of 10 percent of the total time required to fly from the airport of departure .to, and land at, the airport to which it was released;"

Flag ops are international operations. Many of the rules go back to old Pan Am recip days. The rule for recip and turboprop operations require 15% of the enroute fuel. Sixty years ago weather guessing wasn't near what it is today. The extra fuel is to account for differences between the forecast winds and reality. Redispatch allows you to reduce the enroute time that you multiply by 10%.

[Spooky 2]

I'm familiar with the regulations as posted but I can tell you some 121 & 125 operators have relief on the 10% so that only certain parts of the total time have the 10% applied. I believe DAL may be one of those airlines.

The above was not a part of the original question and I was simply looking for an equivalent reg within EASA. Apparently they treat this differently and since I'm working on an EASA project, that was the purpose of the question. I'll do some more research and report back.

[Spooky 2]

Found this regarding an EASA equivalent to the FAR 10% rule.
ICAO Annex 6-4.3.6.3

To have an additional amount of fuel sufficient to
provide for the increased consumption on the
occurrence of any of the potential contingencies
specified by the operator to the satisfaction of the state
of the operator.
(Typically a percentage of the trip fuel - 3% to 6%).

Will talk to dispatch on Monday regarding the 10% Flag fuel FAR any relief that may be given. If in fact there is relief, I suspect it would appear in the operators OpSpecs.

[Spooky 2]

Here is a Pprune thread regarding this subject.

http://www.pprune.org/tech-log/28841...ency-fuel.html

As you can see there is an OpSpec deviation from the 10% rule and it's called B43 International Reserve Policy. If you Google this you can see several threads that talk to the subject.

The B43 reserve policy stipulates that:

Enroute reserves can be calculated only for portions of the route where the aircraft is in Class 2 airspace and is more than an hour away from Class 1 airspace along the route.

Enroute reserves can be calculated at 10%, 5% or 3% by agreement with the FAA and based on aircraft capabilities.

Destination reserves must be increased from 30 minutes to 45 minutes. The destination reserves are computed the same as domestic reserevs-at final segment fuel flow, as opposed to "hold" over most distant airport (destination or farthest alternate).

[FoxHunter]

I've used the B43 reserves but I only recall using it between Anchorage and the lower 48 or the reverse. I guess we used it because it allowed us to use the same fuel reserves as a domestic flight, :45.