Originally Posted by
Luc Lion
Slightly off topic but does anyone know why the final reserve is 30 minutes for IFR in a turbine aircraft (or in day VFR) while it is 45 minutes for IFR in a piston aircraft (or in night VFR).
This difference is independent of the number of engines, number of crew members, speed of the aircraft, etc.
I fail to understand what makes the situation of an out-of-fuel piston aircraft more critical than the situation of an out-of-fuel turbine aircraft.
My guess is that they wrote the rule back in the good old fuel-suckin', smoke-belchin', dish-rattlin' turbojet days when one was fuel critical as soon as the gear came up. If they needed to carry 15 more minutes in reserve they couldn't make Idlewild to O'Hare nonstop in winter. It must've been a magical time. I could be wrong though.