I think we could go round in circles for ever on this one but a couple of comments:-
>a) A sufficient quantity of fuel is carried for the intended flight with a safe margin for contingencies.<
It is surely the aircraft commander who makes the decision to ensure a "safe margin".
>c) The uneconomic carriage of fuel is minimised.<
Emphasis on the word "uneconomic".
>If you were operating under this fuel policy how might it affect your daily decisions, year in year out, on how much extra fuel to carry? <
I hope that as an aicraft commander it would never influence my decision to carry any extra amount of fuel I deem necessary for safe flight. Further there must surely be other instructions in the fuel policy that the aicraft commander has the overriding authority as to how much fuel to depart with?
I cannot understand why various posters are being so defensive about this aspect. Surely it is a fact that more fuel should have been carried on this flight? Why dodge the issue? You only need to eliminate one of the holes in the cheese model to avoid an accident.