Question for AAE boys

[tasdevil.f27]

Been asked to post these questions to any AAE guys who fly the early morning MEL- LST - MEL sector.

When flying this sector how do u decide if you will require fuel at LST?

Besides bad weather, is it a personal choice of the crew whether to carry extra fuel for return journey? If so, why do some choose to take fuel & not carry it?

Do you know when you leave or before u leave MEL that you will require fuel? as some weeks no fuel is required and if it is required why cant they be notified earlier than 10 -15 minutes away from landing?

[framer]

I'll have a crack at explaining it. I'll just use round numbers.

When flying this sector how do u decide if you will require fuel at LST?

Assume that the heaviest you can be when landing in LST is 53 tonne.
Also that the fuel burnt flying to LST is 3 tonne.
This gives you a maximum take-off weight of 56 tonne.

Now if the aircraft with no fuel or freight weighs 35 tonne, that only leaves you with 21 tonne to play with, it can be made up of any combination of fuel and freight. So if you want to take off with seven tonne of fuel, thats fine but you can only carry 14 tonne of freight.
Taking of with seven tonne would enable you to land with the right amount of fuel to go back with so everyone is happy. The operator buys the fuel for return flight at cheap ML prices and the ground crew don't have to roll up their sleeves etc....but what if there is 15 tonne of freight to take? That means the maximum fuel we can take is 6 tonne. If we took seven tonne we would be a tonne too heavy to land upon arrival in LST.
Oh well, never mind, we'll just buy it when we get to LST

That is a simplistic look at it with inaccurate figures but hopefully gives you an idea. There are a few other things that influence it like the weather and loading etc but I think you were just after a basic explanation yeah?

is it a personal choice of the crew whether to carry extra fuel for return journey?

For sure, it's a juggling act and sometimes there are slightly different ways to do it or sometimes one crew will interpret a weather forecast differently to the next crew and therefore want more fuel. Ultimately it's the captains responsibility but in saying that, if the f/o doesn't like the fuel load the plane isn't going anywhere without him.

Do you know when you leave or before u leave MEL that you will require fuel?

90% of the time the crew would, 10% the weather back in ML might take a turn for the worst and they throw on some more gas.

if it is required why cant they be notified earlier than 10 -15 minutes away from landing?

It is not known until the crew decide on a fuel load.......maybe the crew could pick up the phone on the way out to the aircraft and give you a quick call? Be aware though that they will then be late by the amount of time it took to make the call.

[tasdevil.f27]

cheers,

I'll pass it on to them.