Originally Posted by
sleeper
I very much doubt 2000lbs would come even close to the required 30 minutes of reserve fuel.
Isn't that 30 minutes a requirement when planning the flight.
There must, logically, be circumstances where it acceptable to use your "reserve" and land practically empty, otherwise it's not really "reserve fuel", it's ballast!
I'd have thought it very possible they arrived at Montreal, their intended destination, with a perfectly acceptable fuel remaining, but then the combination of a hold at montreal (which may have exceeded the nominal hold for planning?) and then the diversion to ottawa used up most of that fuel?