I wonder if we could get back to the original point of this thread before we reach the magic 100 posts? We can discuss ideal fuel reserves as much as we like, but there will always be occations when things don't go as planned, and we get a little concerned, even if we are not in the strict Mayday or Pan situations as defined by JAR. This concern can be as a result of holding at destination or diverting, especially if we have diverted from a two runway airport to a single runway airport.
Antigua is an extremely professional and competent aviator, but he is also an excellent communicator as those of you who have met him will know. What he did was to communicate his concerns to the Director as he thought that this might be more helpful than springing a Mayday on them in the go-around. In my many visits to LTCC I have always been told that you prefer us to let you know about any problems that we have. However, in Antigua's case this communication resulted in an MOR.
So perhaps we could get back to the original question. Do you want us to inform you of any problems that we might have, or do you want us to wait until we reach the strictly defined (JAR-OPS-1.375(c)) limits before springing a Mayday on you?
Airclues