Contingency Fuel
Hey guys thought I woulfd throw my penny into the debate...
My understanding was that contingency was to be used after despatch, for something which was unknown to the crew at the time.
I am only an FO but on my sectors if i think that we will be sat waiting on the ground longer than we envisage, then i make a point of adding the fuel on. Most of our captains agree thats good sense.
However to to back to the original thread. I dont think I would consider taxiing back in to get refueled. That would cause so many problems its not worth mentioning.
I also agree that the big men of the day seem to be the ones who take plan fuel on a daily basis, because we live in a world where the purse strings are being very tightly drawn shut, and anyone who takes more is perhaps being perceived wrongly. It will only take one diversion due to fuel and all the fuel savings that person has made will soon disappear.
Coincidentally we did a flight last year to CUN in a 757 and we actually disatched 100kg above Comp Min Req'd Fuel because thats all that would fit in the yanks. Had we been held up on the ground we were still going, as we could just have our pick of every airport along the route within 10 hours of departure to drop into and refuel, which would be much quicker and less hassle that going back in to stand at LHR/MAN... etc
ps have some of you guys never heard of the pencil sharpener, or even ECON...