I would rather have the freedom to use my own common sense and airmanship to choose my own minimum fuel appropriate to the nature of the flight I am undertaking, rather than have an arbitrary figure (designed for a different type of operation altogether) imposed on me.
Torque
I tend to agree with you with a caution. I think there should be a basic structure for fuel management but with some flexibility.
Placing something into a cast iron regulation then also brings in the question of insurance. You did not have the legal required fuel and hence insurance is void.
The pilot has to make descisions regarding fuel anyway. Stronger than forecast headwinds may result in an early diversion?
Fog? so unpredictable which may require the pilot to carry more fuel than the legal requirements.
I can remember flying to Scotland with the whole country under a blanket of fog. My departure airfield had 4000 metres my destination was in the clear but everything else seemed down. Ireland was totally clear so I took on enough fuel for a long diversion if all went pear shaped.
I must admit to being cautious with fuel. Have plenty and you can go anywhere have little and your options close if something goes wrong.
Again I can remember a fuel problem in a Seneca twin years ago over unforecast fog. The fuel transfer jammed on legal minimal fuel with all alternatives down and I took a PAR with colour code red to a cloudbase of 80 feet and 600 metres into a military base. The controllers knew I was not visual at 200 feet and carried the talkdown to the ground. The cloud was on the hangar tops! never again.
Pace