choosing an alternate / SOP
Cheers everyone,
recently I had some intense debate over economic criteria of choosing alternate airports. I'm not talking about adequate and suitable stuff, weather etc. A blessing or a curse, those issues are regulated ad nauseam both in my airline as well as in RUS federal regulations.
The issue which still stirs controversy is literally how far you can go with choosing an alternate airport.
Say, we have one alternate airport some 250 nm away from a destination airport, and then we have another alternate, which offers better approach minima and pax accomodation possibilites, but which is also more remote one, say 320 nm. The fuel price is higher at the departure airport, so a flight would cost more with the 320 nm alternate arpt.
Some pilots tend to pick more the remote one, arguing they have more fuel in this case, while others are ok with 250 nm and lower flight costs.
Which would be the correct strategy ? Does anybody have it covered in his airline SOPs?
Last edited by Charliedontsurf_83; 6th Jul 2015 at 20:32.