Fudging is an art that comes with experience. We all have to fudge occasionally. Knowing how to fudge legally and sensibly is an acceptable part of the job. Official fudging occurs- how happy are we with official loadsheet standard weights of 88kg per male (including hand baggage), 70 kg per female, or charter standard baggage weights 13 kgs (European) or 15 kgs International? When I go skiing, I cannot get my baggage weight below 22kgs, and my ski jacket pockets in the cabin tend to hold rather heavy items as well! The whole of aviation is fudged at various times, and sometimes as an experienced aviator, you must fudge your way through the job, but safely! I would have thought anybody carrying roundtrip fuel would have uplifted a bit extra to cope with contingencies, especially when the return weather as a bit dodgy. It doesn't take academic analysis down to the last kilogram. If you are prohibited from doing so, then the company must expect small uplifts at the transit station. Often, carrying round trip fuel is impractical because of ground wing icing caused by cold fuel on the outbound leg, and you must plan to uplift with warm fuel.
The key to it all is intelligent pragmatism. We used to call it 'common sense', but everything seems to have to have complicated titles these days!
Last edited by Rainboe; 28th Apr 2009 at 12:37.