Seems this is always an emotive topic and as others have said "waters can be muddied" by outdated,or irrelevant, subjective etc. etc. postings.
Bearing in mind that Pprune has a vast readership of those "not in the know" of rules and regulations may I firstly state that it is my firm belief that ALL Commercial flights are dispatched with the requisite amount of fuel required to comply with the Operator's CAA/FAA directives. So for all you civvies flying off on hols, ignore some of the previous alarmist nonsense. Your a/c will have enuf juice to start engines, taxy out, fly to destn plus a percentage of fuel for contingency, then to fly to an Alternate airfield and having arrived there, fuel for another 30 minutes going round in circles at 1500ft before making a final approach, overshoot and visual circuit to land before all goes quiet engine-wise. YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING THE LOTTERY ARE FAR MORE FAVOURABLE THAN FINDING YOURSELF HOLDING AT 1500FT OVER YOUR ALTERNATE!!
Rodger Dodge et al: JAROPS require that.. In Flight, there must be sufficient fuel at all times to continue to Destination plus Alternate Fuel and Final Reserve (30mins hold 1500ft).
In our Company we call Altn & Final reserve CMR (i.e.Company Minimum Reserve)
But there are two exceptions to this and the one relevant in your scenario is as follows: (and I paraphrase it)
If having arrived at the holding fix for the approach, the fuel on arrival will be LESS than CMR, then providing a landing can be reasonably assured the aircraft may hold, or continue to hold , so long as final reserve is expected to remain on landing.
Your man has told you the guy had 9 mins "extra" to play with. It's taken him 5 mins of that to drop 2000ft and he's still at FL150. Lot can happen with other traffic in that time. Wherever he/she goes 30 mins fuel on landing is the target. In circumstance you describe, don't reckon many people could put hand on heart and say a landing could be "REASONABLY" assured so as to arrive with min of 30mins.
The rules are very sensible and so was this crew in my estimation. Another time, maybe a lower level in the stack, less traffic etc. he/she would have stuck around so long as a landing could be REASONABLY assured (with Final reserve remaining). Bet you a penny to a pound of sh1t that in this case he/she said "Nah" too iffy! Good Call mon Brave. Same bet that there was never any suggestion of a Fuel "problem" either. Seems pretty smart "Fuel Management" in my book.
Sorry to be so long-winded but get a tad miffed when what appears to be good airmanship comes under the cosh.
If you want further info RD send PM and I'll give you a call.
