Originally Posted by
jcountry
I have heard exactly the same story from a guy who’s brother flies for one of the ME3
He said they regularly launch with about enough fuel to do a missed and flame out before a second attempt.
Those guys are on individual contracts which can be cancelled at any time. What do you expect them to do?
Having flown here for nearly a decade I can quickly refute this claim. I have never been chastised nor threatened for adding fuel/changing ETOPS alternates.
It's also important to remember that ETOPS is a legality for
dispatch, and what is planned and what is uplifted are two different things.
Once airborne the entry into ETOPS becomes a more mechanical/equipment/status issue. Once inside an ETOPS segment, the diversion plan is an emergency situation and up to the flight crew.
Airmanship and route experience dictate my fuel requirements at the dispatch stage. Typically ETOPS is considered as decision point between to airports over water, but I've had routes with a single alternate, and even ETOPS over land in Africa and China.
Dispatchers do consider economy/legality in their panning, but I ultimately decide what fuel is appropriate.