bubbers44: that is why a good pilot gets involved with fuel planning
I would hope all captains get involved in fuel planning. In my outfit we dispatch with all the legal minimums plus a bit extra on each PLUS "extra fuel". We know there is likely to be ATC holding at NRT on arrival and we add extra for deviations around the ITC zone etc.. 90% of the time the captain OKs it, but sometimes he asks for a bit more. We always give it to him.
Once I mentioned in the briefing some enroute CBs and said "but you've got 30 minutes extra fuel so you should be OK". Captain replied, "yeah, but you're not the one in the sky". I've never forgotten it. I'm more than happy to lose some fuel to tankering then have the flight divert. None of the flights I've dispatched have every diverted for fuel. Hope it never happens!
akerosid: Initial report from this newspaper didn't even mention that it was a JAL aircraft.
So? Is a bird strike the operator's fault necessarily?
