Thank you Nigel, but my employer and my identity are not germane to this debate.
What is important is that we get a clear idea of what the Authority is requiring of commanders who wish to operate into LHR and other major airfields in the UK. I will reiterate that the CAA has published its intended interpretation of AIC 36 in the Special Objective Check, and that is that you must expect 20 minutes holding when you arrive at these airports. That means you must add that fuel to your expected burn. If you are arriving in the kind of weather that the UK has been blessed with these last weeks then it may well be that your alternate fuel is not required and could usefully be substituted for ‘holding fuel’. If the weather is not suitable for dispensing with an alternate (JAROPS Part D 1.295 refers), then you must take this holding fuel IN ADDITION to your planned fuel.
If during your approach phase the delay has exceeded the promulgated 20 minutes, you have the option of continuing to wait for an approach subject to the overriding responsibility of the commander to land with final reserve fuel. If you reach a fuel state such that after an approach you will have insufficient fuel to meet that requirement you MUST declare a PAN. Here is the relevant document.
AIC 131/1999
3 Actions to be taken when an immediate landing appears necessary
3.1 After having completed essential emergency or abnormal checklists, briefing the crew and preparing the flight deck and cabin areas for landing will be amongst the foremost priorities. Quite possibly the first request the crew will make of the air traffic service provider will be to adjust the aircraft’s heading towards the airfield where they now wish to land. Flight crew can expect ATC to assist, but only when a formal emergency has been declared and the commander’s intentions have been made known.
Personally I would be considering this course of action when I’m down to one approach and one missed approach and radar circuit. My PAN call would follow the go-around. I’m sure that Nigel is familiar with the frequency of go-arounds at LHR, one ATC mate says about two a day is an average. Do you feel lucky?
In my experience, LHR is the one of the only airfields that I visit when holding is a regular and expected occurrence. It is one of the only airfield where I enter the FMC hold as a matter of course. I can expect to hold on about three in four occasions.
So would you:
- Leave the stand at JFK without 40 minutes taxi fuel?
- Operate to an island destination, perhaps Grantley Adams, where CB’s are forecast without additional fuel for holding off?
- Fly across the Andes without an oxygen critical escape route?
- Fly a parallel approach into Denver Stapleton or Atlanta without TA selected?
- Whatever
So why would you arrive at the World’s busiest international airport, in one of the most densely populated areas of Europe, when you know you’ll probably have to hold, when the Authority have officially informed you that you may have to hold, with no holding fuel?
It’s just not sensible. It’s not good airmanship.