I personally have no objection to a pilot chattily telling me he has a fuel problem... had one yesterday: "We can only hold until XXX (his EAT minus about 1 minute)". Usual stuff which we hear every day of our working lives.. However, guys, much as I don't actually MIND you saying it you should know that officially I'm not supposed to act upon it unless you declare an emergency.. Officially I cannot change the landing sequence to accommodate you just because you casually mention that you're tight on fuel. Nevertheless, if some of you saw the gyrations we go through to help you jump the queue sometimes you might be amazed - especially those of you who fly a certain long extremely pointed object.. Maybe we should interpret the rules absolutely to the letter... get Stansted, Birmingham, Gatwick, etc., full up with Heathrow diversions every day and see if the message gets home...?
Lastly, I really feel for the long-haul guys but the ones that get up my nose are those who come from Manchester and tell me they can only hold for only 5 minutes (happened very recently)...
Last edited by HEATHROW DIRECTOR; 26th April 2002 at 07:32.