mseyfang
The ETOPs minimum fuel requirements you describe are mainly to ensure sufficient fuel is carried to divert to the en-route alternate at 10000ft and with one engine inop. This calculation is compared to the normal fuel needed to see if extra has to be loaded.
The ETOPs minimum fuel calc normally only requires extra fuel if the distance to the en-route alternate is very long: consistent with a 180-minutes from alternate rule.
While AF447 was an ETOPs flight, it was not planned to ever be more than 120 mins from an alternate and it's highly unlikely that extra fuel was needed to satisfy ETOPS requirements.
I don't believe for a moment that the failure to deviate around the wx was fuel related.
Last edited by Dysag; 7th Jun 2009 at 08:23.