When should you declare a fuel emergency?

[VLADKO]

When you're got less than reserve fuel?

Or

When your AFM/QRH dictates the conditions(some number like less than 1000lbs in main tanks)?

Or

Some other option, you gentelmen can propose?

[Piltdown Man]

Whenever you believe that you'll be landing with less than 30 minutes holding.

[BOAC]

Not in the UK

[VLADKO]

Ok, how is it done in the UK, BOAC?

[BOAC]

There is no such call as 'Fuel Emergency' in the UK. It is MayDay or Pan depending on the 'shortage' as defined in company Ops Manuals, with the over-riding decision on grade by the Captain, of course..

[Cpt_Schmerzfrei]

Please excuse my ignorance, but shouldn't EU OPS 1.375 (3) override company documents, no matter where? It says that "the commander shall declare an emergency when calculated usable fuel on landing, at the nearest adequate aerodrome where a safe landing can be performed, is less than final reserve fuel."

[Piltdown Man]

less than 30 minutes holding.

OK, I'll change that to "less than final reserve".

For us that's 30 minutes holding.

[Slasher]

PAN PAN call when fuel is ESTIMATED to be less than 30 min
on touchdown.

The MAYDAY call when fuel is GOING TO BE less than 30 min
on touchdown.

Co or the local AIP regs may differ on the timing of the calls
- some may want ATC aware of a possibly potential low fuel
state if 30 min is estimated for touchdown.

[BOAC]

Please excuse my ignorance, but shouldn't EU OPS 1.375 (3) override company documents, no matter where? - excused! You claim to be an 'ATPL in Germany' so I assume you know that Company Ops Manuals in EU land are REQUIRED to be written in accordance with EUOPS 1.375, and most companies will normally 'amplify' the guidance to para b) 3) as per slasher post #8, although NB there is no OFFICIAL system/procedure for the last scenario in that post? If yours is not, you need to get that changed PDQ before you lose your AOC.

If this helps you, it is really very simple and has been posted here an amazing number of times:

You KNOW you will be landing below Final reserve - Mayday

You THINK you will be landing below Final reserve under the existing circumstances - Pan

You are getting anxious about your position in the queue and tell ATC you are beginning to worry - they will probably ask "Are you declaring an emergency"? - at which point YOU make the decision.

[jpboy]

A source document for info, para 9 emphasises BOAC's point.

UNITED KINGDOM AIC: P 045/2009
18-JUN-2009
AERONAUTICAL INFORMATION Safety

AEROPLANES INBOUND TO THE UK WITH FUEL RESERVES APPROACHING MINIMUM.

1 Incidents of crews reporting an inability to hold in the vicinity of their destination aerodrome prior to landing because of a shortage
of fuel have indicated a lack of understanding by operators and crews of the situation existing in busy UK terminal areas.

2 A number of aeroplanes appear to be approaching the UK with no more than minimum reserves of fuel. Aeroplane commanders who
determine, in flight, that their aeroplane will have little or no fuel above that which their company specifies as minimum reserves, should
establish that the weather conditions at the destination and alternate aerodromes fulfil specified criteria and that no delay is expected before, commencing an approach.

3 The information concerning delays that is passed to the crew by the controller is the best available at the time and takes account of
the expected volume of traffic at the aeroplane’s estimated arrival time. If the information available to the controller indicates a reasonably easy flow of traffic and Estimated Approach Times (EAT) are not being issued for the destination aerodrome, the response to request about delay will be ‘No delay expected’.

3.1 ‘No delay expected’ means in these circumstances:
‘Do not anticipate being required to remain in a holding pattern longer than 20 minutes before commencing an approach’.

3.2 Where a delay greater than 20 minutes is expected, the controller will pass an EAT. When delays are expected to be less than 20
minutes, controllers will, when requested, give a general indication of the expected delay.

4 Traffic situations in the terminal areas can change very quickly even though ‘No delay expected’ will often mean precisely that,
crews should expect that on occasions some holding will be required before they are fitted into the final approach pattern.

5 It is important, therefore, that operators and crews should take a realistic view of the amount of fuel required, to satisfy the minimum
fuel overhead destination requirements.

6 Crews should plan to arrive overhead a destination aerodrome with, at the very least, fuel sufficient to:

a Make an approach to land; and

b carry out a missed approach; and

c if a destination alternate aerodrome is required, fly to an alternate aerodrome, carry out the subsequent approach and landing;
and

d for aeroplanes with reciprocating engines, fuel to fly for 45 minutes; or for turbo-jet or turbo-prop aeroplanes, fuel to hold for 30 minutes at 1500 ft above aerodrome elevation in ISA calculated with the estimated landing mass on arrival at the alternate or the destination, when no alternate is required.

7 When the planned alternate aerodrome is in the same busy area as the destination, for instance Heathrow and Gatwick, the track
miles on which the fuel requirement for flying to the alternate is calculated should be realistically assessed taking account of the extended routing which can reasonably be expected during busy periods.

8 Pilots should also be aware that although every effort will be made to expedite their arrival, a call such as ‘Fuel Emergency’ has no
status in the UK and ATC cannot give priority to an aircraft with a shortage of fuel unless an emergency is declared.

9 A radio call prefixed by MAYDAY for distress or PAN for urgency will ensure priority handling but the aeroplane’s actual fuel state
should reflect the seriousness of the emergency call. A commander should only make such a call when he believes the aircraft to be in
danger, not because the fuel state has fallen below the amount needed to comply with formula given above.

10 For the future, it is not anticipated that any special procedure will be introduced for fuel emergencies but the Authority is considering
ways of providing more accurate forecasting of delays.

[RTO]

pan means just about nothing in some parts of the world, so good luck with that. But of course the most important thing in these situations is to say things correctly according to local UK procedure....

[Denti]

Actually, the last posted UK procedure is about taking at least 20 minutes extra fuel if you are not expecting any delays. More would be prudent. And of course that saying something along the lines that you are low on fuel is not recognized, which is actually true in the whole EU but may be different elsewhere. It is about using PAN or MAYDAY instead which is a much clearer declaration of an emergency than any ambigous sentence about lack of fuel. If one suspects that PAN is not enough, simply use MAYDAY.

However, EU-OPS does require EU carriers to declare an emergency (mayday) at a certain minimum fuel. However most EU carriers have guidance in their manuals that requires a PAN or urgency declaration at another level to create a ladder of escalation.

[Intruder]

3.1 ‘No delay expected’ means in these circumstances:
‘Do not anticipate being required to remain in a holding pattern longer than 20 minutes before commencing an approach’.
Gotta luv that European English! It's good to know that "no delay" could mean a 20-minute delay. That might take 2/3 of your "final reserve" fuel!

[fireflybob]

That might take 2/3 of your "final reserve" fuel!

I agree it's a question of semantics but surely not if you have flight planned correctly and taken into account the caveats in the UK information circular.

One might poke fun at the definition of "No delay" in this context but I think the UK AIC clearly defines the modus operandi.

[jpboy]

Actually, the last posted UK procedure is about taking at least 20 minutes extra fuel if you are not expecting any delays. More would be prudent. And of course that saying something along the lines that you are low on fuel is not recognized, which is actually true in the whole EU but may be different elsewhere. It is about using PAN or MAYDAY instead which is a much clearer declaration of an emergency than any ambigous sentence about lack of fuel. If one suspects that PAN is not enough, simply use MAYDAY.

Chicken and egg Denti, perhaps you know the back story better than I.

My understanding was that our UK Air Traffic Bretheren were getting a bottom lip with Callsigns declaring unjustified "Fuel Priorities and Panpans". They wanted to make it clear that in the civil sector the first call was meaningless and that in the case of declaring an emergency it was not done because the aircraft had gone below the min div fuel formulae but for the reasons BOAC has clarified. No delay=20mins was an attempt to give operating departments and flightdeck a real world guestimate to fight their corner in a world of fuel league tables so that they don't get close to declaring an emergency.

As a worthy Training Capt once stated, "I never carry extra fuel, only the fuel I think I might need". Wise words.

[Escape Path]

Whatever happened to the "minimum fuel status" call? No one has mentioned it in this thread.

And yes, that call doesn't imply an emergency, but I understood it was a sort of "heads up" for ATC of "cannot accept any further delay from this point forward"

[BOAC]

a) Does not exist in EUland

b) Produces much rib-poking and chortling in approach control and you get what you were going to get (or worse...........) aka 'So what'?.

[Slasher]

Whatever happened to the "minimum fuel status" call? No one has mentioned it in this thread.

No, somebody actually has but in not so many words.