Originally Posted by 737J
But what about the following
- we are going full circle here. This is why EUOPS gives the commander the discretion to weigh up the pros and cons of diverting v committing (I'm not going to post the para yet again). You need to weigh up the options. Set off to div with other 'bolt holes' en route should that double occurrence happen - diversion AND blocked div runway - or commit to dest and take a chance on a blocked runway there. This is what Captains are paid to do. By committing you probably have around 30 mins 'extra' holding fuel in most cases, but you need to consider the ?options? if, at F Reserve+300 on finals, someone evacuates on the runway in front of you. There is no easy answer!
My philosophy was always to favour the div, ideally making sure there were other options should the div become unusable.
Whichever way you cut it on the day, let's remind ourselves how many a/c have actually run out of fuel in the history of the current fuel planning criteria.