PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - JQ Diversion RAAF Tindal 17/12
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Old 18th Dec 2013, 09:00
  #23 (permalink)  
dodo whirlygig
 
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Yonks ago, TAA had a rather tight fuel policy under the fuel management hierarchy - amongst which was the then SRC.

Then, one day, said SRC was inbound to ASP in his 727 when a lightie did a gear-up landing on Rwy 12. Things got very interesting because he was adhering to the fuel policy he helped mandate and had bugger all options.

Later that evening in the bar in DRW I remember him asking the skipper I was flying with "what would you have done?". My skipper's response - "oh, you mean beyond having carried an alternate for a destination with a single runway - probably not much". The 727 skipper went very quiet.

Around the same time there was a photo of a RAF Harrier which, due to low fuel, landed on a Spanish fishing trawler in the North Sea. This got pinned to the notice board in the crew room titled "N******'s fuel policy". Said it all.

Interestingly, TAA's fuel policy underwent review and common sense (which aligned with the practice of most pilots anyway) finally prevailed. Guess where the pressure for the review came from?


p.s landed a DC-9 on 36 in DRW many a time. There you go, an age give-away.
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