burning alternate fuel

[de facto]

how tight are they fuelling up planes over there

As tight as an 80 year old hooker.

I'd be curious if they are performance Nazis only putting on what the flight absolutely needs.

Whats wrong with you?

[Charlie Alfa]

I donīt believe that a guy with this type of question is really flying a jet aircraft, on the other hand, I reckon that you always need to have enough fuel to proceed to your alternate, because itīs possible that something (like an accident) close the airport/runway

[JohnieWalker]

@Charlie Alfa
Under EU OPS you are eligible to fly without alternate if you meet certain requirements for weather and RWYs at destination and throw in additional 15 min fuel. Just my 5c. But we're talking CAAC here, not my speciality

[Intruder]

I'm surprised that copies of the CAAC rules are not available to him, and that his Chief Pilot is unwilling/unable to answer the questions when there is confusion...

[BOAC]

See post #13

[Charlie Alfa]

@JohnieWalker

(sorry, quote isnīt working here)


I understand, however in Europe most of the Airports are close to each other and have a lot of runways...

Also, China has some own rules, look this:

Incident: China Eastern A321 at Haikou, Guangzhou and Shenzhen on Feb 23rd 2012, weather diversions, confusion over airports available and an emergency

[svhar]

See post #13

Then why do you keep on reading this thread? Let alone post on it? Let others have their discussions here, even if they are below your level of intelligence. You seem to get pleasure from belitteling those who are taking their first steps posting on PPRuNe. If you ever were a captain, you would have been the type that laughs in the face of the F/O's when they make a mistake, instead of being their colleague, mentor and friend. Fortunately, such pilots will soon be where the dinosaurs are now.

[ImbracableCrunk]

I'm surprised that copies of the CAAC rules are not available to him, and that his Chief Pilot is unwilling/unable to answer the questions when there is confusion...

Also 'unable' to ask anyone in the airline's management or training structure..

A CP in Asia spent some time trying to explain how you set Turbulence N1. His answer, "Find an airspeed that gives you the desired Turbulence N1, and that's how you set it."

I guess he had Chief Pilot Infallibility, so he must have been right. Who would I be to question that?

There were also plenty of regs and memos that were only in the local language. Or so we were told. Again, who was I to question that?

[Alt Crz Green]

I donīt believe that a guy with this type of question is really flying a jet aircraft, on the other hand, I reckon that you always need to have enough fuel to proceed to your alternate, because itīs possible that something (like an accident) close the airport/runway

And what happens if you divert and it's the diversion airport that suffers the closure? Is your alternate statistically less likely to close?

Where's common sense in all this?
You are flying to airport A with one runway and your alternate B has one runway. The wx is CAVOK in both. It's busy in A and you have 10 mins of holding fuel. Your EAT is in 15 mins. You get to 10 mins and divert, just in case someone blocks the runway at A and you have to divert and arrive at B with less than final reserve. But on the way it's reported that someone has blocked runway B. Oh dear...
What I can't understand is the lack of logic that dictates we divert to B and land with final reserve fuel only or stay at A and land with final reserve + most of the alternate fuel.
Unless you have statistically proven that the alternate is less likely to suffer from tyre-bursts etc than your destination, in which case you need to inform your local CAA and apply for a stats degree.
Clearly the command process at so many carriers is not producing those fit to command.

[bubbers44]

Just use common sense. Our major airline out of MIA dispatched me to
Barranquilla Columbia with Cartagena as an alternate in a 727. Before top of descent about 150 miles found out both were closed due to tailwinds and weather. HF was our only link to dispatch through Lima and they didn't answer so I called Barranquilla ops and said what is Panama City weather? They said VMC so diverted calling ATC and landed with normal fuel. Sometimes you have to do what makes sense. Dispatch was in a panic and said you didn't have fuel for Panama and I said we didn't descend so had reserve fuel. Sweet justice>