As an end user, I don't give a rotund rodent's rectum who is the provider of that service. I'd just like whomever that provider is to give me something closer to the service I receive in most other places I take my bosses' big while shiny jet to.
The current holding patterns for Dubai are simply too far away from the airfield, and the cross country marathons we are asked to undertake after leaving the holds (or do instead of entering the holds) gobble up too much fuel. This is not necessarily because of the length of the post holding (or instead of holding) vectoring, but moreso because of the frequent level offs required and the too early reductions in speed to below 230 knots that are all too often required of us.
It will come as no surprise to most ATCOs reading this thread that EK pilots have come under some perssure recently to reduce unnecessary fuel uplift to a minimum. This has resulted in most EK pilots having very little fuel to play with on arrival into Dubai, and with the stop-start descents and slow down/go faster speed control we so often experience after leaving Dubai's far away holds, it's simply not possible to calculate with any degree of accuracy how much we're going to burn to touchdown. I'm sure I'm not the only one who allows for a far higher fuel burn ex the hold in Dubai than for any other port in our network.
Last edited by Wiley; 16th September 2006 at 05:13.
Reason: ungarbling my garbled Engluush