Otterman
9th Jun 2002, 11:12
I have been flying for a European major for 14 years now. Of which 12 have been on the Boeing 747 classic. I was 24 when I joined, and I have no experience with another airline. Now to the reason for the post.
My company is in the process of updating our fuel policy. Of course this means a further tightening of fuel uplift. As far as I know we are already tight in our uplift from my conversations with colleagues at other airlines. This new development has made me more interested in other airline’s fuel policies.
My company has been using a system (for more than 15 years) which gathers statistical data based on destination and aircraft type. This data relates to the fuel consumption above/below planned consumption. As a crew we are presented with this data in the form of minutes of fuel usage from mean. We meet the normal international requirements for fuel carried, and the exact details of how our fuel policy works would bore everyone to tears and take much too long. But the short of it is that we carry a minimum of 15 minutes extra fuel above the legal minimum requirements. In practice it is rarely more than those 15 minutes. Our alternate airfield policy allows for very close-by alternates with the only limit being able to squeeze the bird into there (auto-brakes Max, no problem e.g.). The changes my company would like to implement would reduce this 15 minute uplift to 5 minutes with the absolute minimum remaining the same. Our absolute minimum planned fuel for landing at destination is 45 minutes holding at 1500 feet ISA. As a Captain you can uplift extra fuel having only to check a box to give a small explanation of the reason for the extra uplift. The company does track this, but I only know of one case in which the company questioned a Captain’s long term fuelling behaviour. He always uplifted 30 minutes extra fuel from flight plan (no exceptions). For the Boeing 747 Classic pilots out there to give you an idea we usually leave with a planned arrival fuel of 10,000 kilograms for a flight from Europe to Los Angeles including an alternate of KONT (Ontario).
Now for my questions:
1) What is the minimum fuel uplift at your company, and if any, how much above the legal minimum requirement (company fuel etc.)?
2) Does the Captain have full discretion in any extra uplift?
3) What is a normal amount of arrival fuel at destination (expressed in minutes of holding fuel)?
4) Is your fuel policy complicated like ours (it covers five pages in our operating manual, 20 pages in our reference manual, and four pages in our aircraft manual) or is it simple?
Sorry about the length.
Hope to get some feedback.
Regards, Otterman.
My company is in the process of updating our fuel policy. Of course this means a further tightening of fuel uplift. As far as I know we are already tight in our uplift from my conversations with colleagues at other airlines. This new development has made me more interested in other airline’s fuel policies.
My company has been using a system (for more than 15 years) which gathers statistical data based on destination and aircraft type. This data relates to the fuel consumption above/below planned consumption. As a crew we are presented with this data in the form of minutes of fuel usage from mean. We meet the normal international requirements for fuel carried, and the exact details of how our fuel policy works would bore everyone to tears and take much too long. But the short of it is that we carry a minimum of 15 minutes extra fuel above the legal minimum requirements. In practice it is rarely more than those 15 minutes. Our alternate airfield policy allows for very close-by alternates with the only limit being able to squeeze the bird into there (auto-brakes Max, no problem e.g.). The changes my company would like to implement would reduce this 15 minute uplift to 5 minutes with the absolute minimum remaining the same. Our absolute minimum planned fuel for landing at destination is 45 minutes holding at 1500 feet ISA. As a Captain you can uplift extra fuel having only to check a box to give a small explanation of the reason for the extra uplift. The company does track this, but I only know of one case in which the company questioned a Captain’s long term fuelling behaviour. He always uplifted 30 minutes extra fuel from flight plan (no exceptions). For the Boeing 747 Classic pilots out there to give you an idea we usually leave with a planned arrival fuel of 10,000 kilograms for a flight from Europe to Los Angeles including an alternate of KONT (Ontario).
Now for my questions:
1) What is the minimum fuel uplift at your company, and if any, how much above the legal minimum requirement (company fuel etc.)?
2) Does the Captain have full discretion in any extra uplift?
3) What is a normal amount of arrival fuel at destination (expressed in minutes of holding fuel)?
4) Is your fuel policy complicated like ours (it covers five pages in our operating manual, 20 pages in our reference manual, and four pages in our aircraft manual) or is it simple?
Sorry about the length.
Hope to get some feedback.
Regards, Otterman.