Minimum Fuel
The Airlines.
The Principal of Minimum Fuel.
The Authorities.
The principal of carrying sufficient fuel for the taxi, flight, climb, step climb, cruise, descent, approach and landing. Plus reserve amounts of fuel for a go around, holding, diversion to a primary and secondary alternate airport at a lower altitude. Adequate fuel for engine failure and drift down to lower altitude, thereby burning more fuel at the lower altitude plus the extra fuel required to offset the drag caused by the single engine failure and the increase in fuel due to the second engine having to compensate for the failed engine.
Modern technology.
The principal of accurate information on weather conditions, by online weather reporting - delays, congestion and trends in traffic flow which could cause a delay or information on unserviceable facilities etc. and instant communication access by telephone, email, Skype, Satcom and others – thus readily accessible by pilots and operations.
The original safety requirements for pilots to include fuel for every eventuality were created in the early days of aviation due to unreliable meteorology forecasting – sporadic long range communication by landline telephone which at times were equally unreliable and lack of information regarding traffic flows on a global basis – unlike today where knowledge, information and communication are increasingly homogenous.
Communication between dispatcher operations and pilots is three-dimensional compared to the old airliner days of the19 40s and 1950s. This is when many of today’s regulations and laws on the carriage of reserve fuel amounts were created.
Today operations offices can communicate directly from their offices on the ground to the flight crew in the cockpit whether the aircraft is on the ground or in the air – by ACARS, by CPDLC and by sat-phone – flights can be kept ahead of events like no other time in the history of aviation.
So accurate is the weather forecasting and alongside the real-time updates of the Aircraft Crew Alerting and Reporting Systems – pilots are able to make pre-emptive decisions on whether or not to divert to another airport more readily than ever before thus saving the necessity of having to descend to a lower altitude, reject an approach and climb back up to a, perhaps lower cruise altitude to arrive at the alternate airport with adequate amounts of fuel for the approach and landing plus any contingencies.
It is for this reason that airlines can now employ strategies that will save fuel, time and money with no risk to the flight - as the reserve fuel for contingencies can be much reduced due to this greater access of information technology. Applying different strategies for long haul (long range) and short haul (short range), island destinations in remote areas of ocean and oceanic routes compared to mainland routes and destinations.
Flight Crews are still required by law to carry reserve fuel – but today, this reserve can be much constrained within the parameters of the greater and more accurate information available.
However, some pilots still prefer to take larger amounts of fuel than the `minimum` fuel required and there is dispute between some pilots and airlines as to how much fuel must be carried. The disputes become heated if any airlines apply to take an amount of fuel less than the legal required minimum.
There is also the `green` aspect of using less fuel in order to save fuel in an ever increasing fuel starved planet.