Hi Scott,
I don't mind being stepped down early, provided we have the information to pass through to our flight planners in order that Jepps can put it in the flightplan.
We have standing agreements at certain boundaries in the UK and these are incorporated into our plans.
Here is an example.
We take the A330 into SFB, Florida, we are given a reclearance flightplan from our company in order to keep fuel down and use - say Dulles as the alternate. I am not a fan of these plans because they can leave you thin at destination, so I normally calculate what I want to arrive in SFB w.r.t weather and traffic - Saturday is busy.
So, let's say I want to touchdown with 8 tonnes, (1500kg for a missed approach, another try, another go around, then still enough for Tampa.)
Now, from this figure, I add the burn, then the taxi and that should give me a good ramp fuel to depart.
This assumes econ to the ocean, .81 over the ocean, then back to econ.
If I am now surprised by a request for a descent to FL240, 280 miles out from SFB, instead of say 150miles, I start cutting into my comfort zone and therefore, I want to stay high as long as possible, so I go down at the minimum posted rod until you guys query it.
Put a couple of good thunderstorms in, a 767 and 747 in front and bingo, I am now on the ramp with 5 tonnes !
If there are standing agreements, let us know, if you want us down early, say why and when, we will do our best to comply.
I appreciate the US skies are busy, however not as busy as the European sectors we normally fly and at least we don't ask for ride reports all the time
