Moving slightly OT Tyrannosaurus raises an interesting point about fuel policy.
I've had to break bad news to a bunch of inbounds about a runway being temporarily blocked on occasion and it's surprised me just how many aircraft simply can't afford to wait around for 10 minutes to see what happens.
I know it makes no sense to carry fuel that you don't in the end need but equally it must be obvious that you can't always assume that there will not be any delays. And when a runway does get blocked ATC cannot always easily accommodate the increased demand that sorting out diversions requires - hence more delay.
Chatting with pilots it seems that there is incredible pressure from management to carry minimum fuel in some companies. Just wondering how widespread this policy is and whether events like this cause the policy makers think twice about their decisions? <img src="confused.gif" border="0">