PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Non-ETOPS/EDTO diversion planning
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Old 11th May 2016, 11:04
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C_Star
 
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I fly this route frequently in an A330 and we use ETOPS180. Not as many suitable airports for a widebody as one might think... I don't know what other airlines do (I'm not QF, nor CX)

A better example for your question would be eg. S.E. Asia - India. It's a non-ETOPS longhaul flight with numerous enroute alternates listed.

Technically, ETOPS scenarios don't have to be applied to these alternates, as this is a non-ETOPS segment. However my airline still assumes the most penalizing scenario (normally single eng decompression).

Even so, enroute diversion fuel is seldom (if ever) critical. Since the enroute alternates are close-by (within 1 hr), I'd expect the fuel to destination + dest altn + reserves to be more than enroute diversion fuel. Therefore, no extra fuel required.

The only time I see extra fuel due to enroute requirements are eg. ETOPS flights from Asia to Hawaii. HNL is the destination and an ETOPS alternate at the same time. So there must be enough fuel to reach HNL from the critical point (which is 3 hrs away) on single engine and after decompression. That's 3 hrs s.e. cruise at FL100, so it is normally more penalizing than normal flight to dest+altn+reserves.

As for the second part of your question - yes, the enroute alternates are listed on the CFP, even on non-ETOPS flights. For flights less than 2 hours, origin and destination are normally sufficient (weather permitting), since you're always within 1 hour from either of them. For longer flights, an intermediate alternate has to be designated, with adequate wx. When I was flying in Europe, it was the same. Even though there were zillion airports fulfilling the requirements, one of them had to be officially designated as enroute alternate for dispatch. Of course it was more of a paper exercise - once you were airborne you could land anywhere...

Last edited by C_Star; 11th May 2016 at 11:20.
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