Hi everybody!
I had a nice friendly discussion about alternate fuel planning with a very good collegue of mine.
Unfortunately we could not find a common answer to the following question:
"Which fuel consumption/speed, for the AUTHORITY, is taken into account for alternate fuel planning?"
In my airline, according my OM-A, the fuel consumption for alternate is supposed to be at COST INDEX 0. But is it as well required from the european Authority or not?
My collegue told me that, although in his company they do fly with cost index 0 to the alternate, the fuel calculated in the OFP is with normal cruise cost index. This means they have an additional margin.
Looking in the net and in my manuals i could find nothing else than this text:
""""Alternate Fuel
Alternate fuel is the amount of fuel required from the
missed approach point at the destination aerodrome until landing at the
alternate aerodrome. It takes into account the required fuel for:
- Missed approach at the destination airport
- Climb to enroute altitude, cruise and descent at alternate aerodrome
- Approach at alternate
- Landing at the alternate aerodrome
When two alternates are required by the Authority, alternate fuel must be sufficient to proceed to the alternate which requires the greater amount of fuel.""""
....Now here we can not read anything about fuel CONSUMPTION!
So, the question again....with which fuel consumption does the Authority require me to calculate ALTERNATE fuel?
Thank you very much for your help!