I have never yet, in 14 years had a TFO accept tasking whilst airborne without asking first. It was one of the main reasons that it was decided to use pilots that were not police officers in UK police aviation
Good to hear
So the TFOs are basically guests, that my ask for a flight target, but should be used to hear "nope, would probably violate our min. fuel after landing rule".
Speaking of which, what does that actually mean (for the given EC135) with regard to fuel in kg at final landing:
‘Company Fuel Policy
Company helicopters are operated under a principal of Minimum Land on
Allowance (MLA), this figure is the minimum amount of total fuel at the point of
landing.
clear, so far.
It is calculated as fuel remaining, not more than 10 minutes after the ... FUEL
caption (EC135) has illuminated..... and is included in the Final Reserve Fuel
amount.
"10 mins. afer FUEL caption lit" is a rel. fixed number characteristic of the EC135 at typ. GW. It cannot be defined in an OPM.
Does that mean: you may fly as long as you need to, IF the fuel at final landing is not less then what would be there 10 mins. after the light comes on?
Would above be the same as saying "be landed max. 10 mins after said light comes on"? How does the final reserve limit factor in?
And finally, with
what endurance calculation (rates, gauges,..) would the pilot arrive at the decision to deny a requested task?