When checking take-off and landing weight limitations for your sectors, late payload increases need to be considered. Often the first and maybe later sectors will limit tankering. Consider completing refuelling as late as possible to allow for last minute payload increase or decrease. Very embarassing to have to defuel, burn on taxi out or alternatively not be flexible enough to carry additional pax and bags up to max seating capacity on the first or subsequent sectors.
If your company requests tankering, and the next sector weights could be more limiting as a result of a large arrival fuel load, you should ask them about next sector(s).
It is OK to be adding and subtracting in order to write the exact amount of tankered fuel for company records, but never forget we are operating in the real world where not enough or too much can have serious implcations for following sector(s). If there is a crew change, you still might need to know if a following sector is fully booked and possibly MLW limited.
In the middle of a former life, I operated multi sectors in Queensland in a J31 Jetream. Some stops had fuel and some not. Some had fuel but no water methanol. Limited take-off performance with high temps meant limited pax numbers. A cheat sheet for planning at each airfield, last minute checking of pax bookings and careful flight planning was often needed just to complete the mission. Sometimes topped up water meth (no option for partial top-up) and did a wet take-off to reduced the weight to carry an additional bag on the following sector.
Have to admit that this was the most ridiculously limiting operation. However there are a few elments there that are just as important in your B737 or A320 and other airliners.
Few want to take responsibility and as captain, you will usually have to figure all the angles with choice of tankering amounts, including the possibility of non optional short cut that may require extra burn to remain within you MLW or to prevent excessive fuel for next sector. From north into Hong Kong Kai Tac was a classic with circuitous arrival on flight plan, but often saved 500 Kg with arrival short cut. Allow for possibility of known large short cuts with departure fuel choice.
Whatever it takes, try to have not to much and not too little for the next sector. Thats why they pay us so much?
These are only some practical considerations for tankering. I hope that other posters can continue this interesting thread.
Last edited by autoflight; 1st October 2012 at 22:27.