FAA International Contingency Fuel

[mutt]

FAR 121 calls for a 10% International Contingency Fuel from point A - B.

Does anyone know of a 121 operator who obtained a dispensation to have this 10% value reduced?

Question is only for FAA operators as JAA has a much lower requirement.

Rgds

Mutt

[BelArgUSA]

Hola Mutt /
xxx
I dont know of any US 121 operator that has a waiver to reduce the 10% time reserve for flights from A to B... Here in Argentina, essentially, we also use the 121 rules, and the 10% time reserve as well. What we often do, is to re-release during flight, thereby giving us extra available payload if required. I assume you have re-release as well with JAA/CAA rules... When I used to be with PanAm, with did a lot of re-releases on Atlantic flights Westbound, using YQX, then BGR for JFK as destination... 2 re-releases...
xxx
One thing we do in Argentina, is to waive the fuel to alternate, if the destination has 2 or more runways, and TAF 1 hrs before/1 hrs after ETA is going to be 300 meters ceiling and 5 km visibilty or better.
xxx
Do you know anyone that flies a 747-200 like the ones I fly, to compare the JAA fuel requirements with the ones I would have...? I do not remember, but I think JAA requires 8% time reserve... ??? Very little savings...
xxx
:)
Happy contrails

[411A]

Oddly enough, Mutt, when I was at your location, 5% was routinely used.

[Willit Run]

Yes, you can reduce the fuel from A to B. Its caled a B-43 (?)flight plan. You can reduce the fuel reserves to carry enough only in the "class 2" area. Helps out quite alot on the oceanic routes!

[mutt]

BelArgUSA,

We utilize redispatch on almost all our international routes, we also operate the 747-100/200/300 and even the SP!! IF we operated under JAA we could lower the contingency reserve to 5% or if we can show aircraft performance statistics based upon a performance monitoring, we could go to 3%.

411A, you used 5%? I'm surprised! Its been 10% since 1991.

Willit Run, can you point me towards a regulation that explains the requirements of a B43 flight plan.

Thanks

Mutt

[TopBunk]

FAR 121 calls for a 10% International Contingency Fuel from point A - B.

So, as an example, on a flight from SIN to LHR on a 747-400 with a trip fuel of say 144.0 tonnes, and reserves plus alternate of 7.6 you would have to take 14.4 tonnes of contingency and therefore Planned Remaining of 22.0 tonnes?

Cherist!

Todays BAxx from SIN was planned to depart with above numbers except with 95% statistical contingency of 3.6 tonnes, still planning to land with about 1.25 hours fuel remaining! 22 tonnes would equate to about 2.5 hours (and reduce payload by the same incremental fuel amount loaded [10.8 tonnes]).

[merlinxx]

Mutt I assume you operate to PCA regs? Thus you are 10% with standard rerelease/reclear applications. If not PCA, but UAE, depends on what your Ops Man (as cleared) indicates. When planning for PCA ops (direct crib of FARs) I always planned 10%. UAE applied UK CAA crib of 5% enroute plus hold plus div.

[411A]

411A, you used 5%? I'm surprised! Its been 10% since 1991.


I left in 1990, Mutt, so it might well have changed after that.
Up until then, it was 5% with a standard release, which could be reduced to not below 3% with a re-release, which was always used inbound to home base.

Generally never a problem, as the fuel burns were quite generous, and took into account performance penalties with older aircraft.

[mutt]

Zoner, Flag... can you point me towards the appropriate regulation...

Top Bunk, now you know why we love redispatch :)

Mutt

[lessaspirin]

Mutt,

The FAA issues to operators relief to the 10% rule by way of either B043 or B044 Operation Specifications. Titled Planned Redispatch or Rerelease Enroute - they allow an operator to dispatch intially to an intermediate airport with the 121.645 required fuel with a plan to redispatch the flight enroute to the plan destination airport. The redispatch release must also contain the fuel required by 121.645 from the re-release point to destination. The gross impact is that you only carry the 10% fuel required from the re-release point to destination.

Your POI should be able to get you a copy of the OpSpec.

[oicur12]

On the topic of fuel carriage.

Does your airline allow the contingency fuel to be consumed on the ground before departure. Our airline caters for 500 kg taxi fuel (A330) but often we burn over 1000kg with extensive ground delays consuming our entire contingency reserve. I think its absurd as the intent of contingency fuel is to cater for unknown variables after departure. Our company does not encourage extra fuel for departures from busy airports when long taxi is expected because "you can use the 5%". Thats not what its for.

Secondly, how do your airlines plan for thunderstorms at destination and alternate. If both ports are forecast heavy thunderstorms for your arrival, do you carry extra fuel for this and how much.

[Dream Land]

So, as an example, on a flight from SIN to LHR on a 747-400 with a trip fuel of say 144.0 tonnes, and reserves plus alternate of 7.6 you would have to take 14.4 tonnes of contingency and therefore Planned Remaining of 22.0 tonnes?
" to fly for a period of 10
percent of the total time required to
fly from the airport of departure to,
and land at, the airport to which it was
released"

[mutt]

Oicur12,

We would add additional taxi fuel with a 10 minute minimum plus at a fixed amount for each expected minute longer than that. The 10% can be used following that but the idea is to have it for flight rather than on the ground.

We generally tanker away from base to maximum landing weight, so its quite common to see our B777's arrive over LHR with 30,000 fuel remaining! Crews are never questioned about adding additional fuel.

Dreamland... what were you trying to explain?


Mutt

[Dream Land]

Explain? Not too much really, trying to learn, TopBunk I think was not correct in adding fuel, contingency is about time, 10% of the time to fly from point A to point B, correct me if I don't have this right. :}

[TopBunk]

Dreamland

You may be correct, but in the example I gave the flight time would have been just short of 13 hours (or 720 minutes) thus, in your book, requiring 72 minutes Contingency Fuel.

So, 1.2 hours at the end of flight fuel burn of say 8 tonnes/hour = 9.6 tonnes contingency [I said 14.4 as 10% of trip fuel and the flight mentioned had 3.6 tonnes], still 6 tonnes more fuel, even using your rules, and thus planning to land with over 2 hours fuel remaining - easy to make fuel decisions when you hide behind rules like that.

(Mutt's tankering from the sandpit into LHR is irrelevant and is doubtless down to cost - even if it does nothing for the environment, and yes, we also tanker to a few destinations for the same reason, but more like 5% of destinations rather than 100%)

[411A]

So, 1.2 hours at the end of flight fuel burn of say 8 tonnes/hour = 9.6 tonnes contingency [I said 14.4 as 10% of trip fuel and the flight mentioned had 3.6 tonnes], still 6 tonnes more fuel, even using your rules, and thus planning to land with over 2 hours fuel remaining - easy to make fuel decisions when you hide behind rules like that.


You need just a tad more information, to make gross assumptions, TopBunk.

FAA international contingency fuel rules were set very long ago, when one airline (PanAmerican) was the only US international carrier and, as all (or nearly all) of these international destinations necessitated very long overwater sectors, and finding at the destination that NO alternates were available, the 2 hour fuel requirement in tanks at destination was called....island reserve.

No island reserve fuel at the flight pre-planning stage, together with no enroute alternates (quite likely many times)...flight canceled.

It's called something that seems to have been rather severely disregarded by some non-US carriers, that undertake long sectors (or in the case of Hapag Lloyd, for example, with their A310 enroute VIE)...flight safety.

[Dream Land]

Also, 10% is a requirement at the very beginning of the flight, as you fly, the requirement is steadily reducing, that makes it possible for re-clears like BelArgUSA mentions.