Fuel check - when?
 

Hello fellow aviators!

Just a random question from me, how often do you long haul pilots do fuel checks when cruising?

AGM

TOC, hourly, then just before TOD.:ok:

Thank you mate! :ok:

Every 30 minutes more or less, no TOC nor TOD as they normally do not coincide with the planned points anyhow.

On ETOPS, also over every waypoint obviously.

Not forgetting that lovely ?green? writing on the 'puter screen that tells you how you are doing.

. . .when compared to the actual fuel in the tanks, that is.

Print out of waypoints/VOR's with ETA. Fuel/time checked and noted at each one.

Sometimes several per hour or as few as one per hour(west bound NATS)

Flight plans are VERY accurate.
Arfur Dent has it right! Ive been doing the long haul thing for almost 30 years. ALL of the flight plans i have worked with, have a TOC point, and there after for every point there after. sometimes every frickin minute!

I have seen flight plans predicated on weights minus a decimal point. I have seen flight plans and W&B predicated on kilos instead of pounds and vice-versa. I have seen flight plans predicated on a certain arrivals then to a point somewhere in space and another arrival to the same runway,

Computers are great! but................. sh!t in, sh!t out.

slow down, its your ticket, you are the Captain; or to be.

@Willit Run,
Agreed! :ok:

Every 30 min
 

My company mandates to have it checked in every 30 min.

Are you flying for that airline where recently four planes were landing short of fuel?

At least every 30 min. Fuel, time, altitude, nav and system check is GOP.
Good Operator Practice.
Basic airmanship really and thought since day one at flight academy.
I can only presume the original question comes from someone not in the profession?

- click on username and select 'About Me'?

Clue - not a 'long-haul pilot'.............................

For long haul flights. Before fueling, if possible, after fueling with the review of the fuel receipt detailing fuel density, taking the runway, TOC, every half hour thereafter, TOD, blocks in.

Simply not. And can not understand your sarcastic attitude either..

that fuel stuff . . .
 

On the oceanic checklists it says overhead the waypoint.

Personally, I like to check it if I forgot how much we had 10 mins ago . . . plus,

you can write a "Howgozit?" One of the few things of any practical use from an ATPL course. You can create a Howgozit and laminate it - Thus laminated you can scawl on it and rub off the writing at the end of the flight, using a wet finger. (so as you can use it again)

Its a goer because it gives you, at a glance, exactly how much fuel you have compared to how much fuel you planned to have - thereby determining if you are headlong into the teeth of a jetstream or for leak determination.

They are real handy and can include: PNR points, Critical Points and you can mess them about and make them overtly complicated or just have a simple graph, consisting of a vertical scale in the left margin, a horizontal one at the bottom of the page.

Vertical = Fuel Qty therefore T/O fuel at the top (-RES)
Horizontal= Dist NM. (obviously you have to write in the NM and fuel qty amounts to tally - not just two lines:ugh:)

A diagonal line from top of fuel to end of NM scale - (for obvious reasons the Dest should never be zero) and your final fuel will be the amount of RES+ all the other qtys you managed to get away with.

JFA. Just Flying along, at any point on the Dist Horiz line note your position
(D from Dep) and then note your fuel. Stick a little asterix or cross where the Dist and Fuel-on-board intersect - after time, you may see a pattern forming* - more importantly if the little crosses are above the diag line then you are quids in, if the crosses are below the line then you have to ask why this is and by what amount and get your calculator out.

When you become very fast using the calculator then you can progress up to a notepad and pencil:)

NB: Obviously this is NOT ETOPS planning or equi-time points this is simply a "how much have we got left" based on "distance flown"

*you can determine from the pattern of crosses you drew by a mere glance as to what your fuel situation is going to be in X miles time - or, you can get the ruler out and draw a median line bypassing the crosses in a straight line.

- any decent PLOG has all of that.

Every 60 mins, or 30 mins if deemed necessary in flight.

Only if you are sleeping the rest of the time....

Timed checks make it easier to spot trends. Continous monitoring, while obviously required , is to spot immediate changes in systems.