One of my sideways looks I'm afraid team........
I'm working on the assumption of the skipper's skill, and thinking being well up to speed. Good airmanship and even possibly making a point to the deskbound.
There's a preponderance of replies from those in a company with a long history of learning and good operational integrity. A cut, dried, sensible, calmly expressed approach to reassure.
However the reality is such that a huge proportion of companies operate on bought in flight plans from 3rd parties. Both the companies and the suppliers will offer their firstborn along with the assurances that the plans are legal, decent and honest.
In many cases they are not and not in terms of one off errors either. The problem is systemic and down to laziness, incompetance or simply ambitious people making their reputations for career reasons.
Specifically: Alternate fuel burns/plans are absolutely straight tracks to the nearest runway at the diversion and based on a 'ballistic' vertical flight path to 1500 feet from that runway.
Yep, looks convincing, follows the letter of the law and doing anything else comes under the heading of far too difficult. Anyway, that's how the supplier does it for X,Y and Z airlines - so there!
I've personally had plans that assumed reaching FL260 during a diversion from Stansted to East Midlands on a straight line track.
It's also interesting, while safely on the ground, to run a flight with a diversion on a chart or paper. Using your regulations, ops manual and QRH note the points at which - in a totally legal fuel plan - you will be declaring a pan (if understood), a mayday and then, depending on type, low fuel drills yet still arrive on the ground with supposedly legal minimum fuel.
Is it in the spirit of the legislation to have been forced to declare a pan, mayday and possibly carry out QRH actions on a totally legal flight?
Final point - in my experience my eyesight appears to be failing when I look for the required 20 mins for operating in the London area when looking at 3rd party generated plans. It's official, it's promulgated and it shouldn't be a matter of airmanship to remember it.
OPs inspectors reading please take note!
Regards
Rob
Last edited by PPRuNe Towers; 20th June 2003 at 01:45.