Originally Posted by
Captain Tony
My thought on this is that it's a lot easier for me to manage my fuel when I get assigned a hold with a firm EFC time. Especially when on min fuel. The zig zag vectors are indefinite in duration, and make it very difficult to formulate a bingo fuel plan as for when to divert.
Of all the times I've landed with "uncomfortable" fuel levels, it's been with surprise vectors, never a hold. When I hold, I compute my bingo, then head to the alternate when I hit it.
+1 on this. A hold provides me with much more info than the zig zag tour. At least with a hold I have a "worst case" number to deal with. With the zig zag tour I have no info and usually the freq is too busy with other zig zags to be able to ask how long the delay will be in minutes. With the low fuel planning that has gained popularity in the past few years zig zags have a tendency to get uncomfortable quick.
I do fly to EWR a lot and just thought of this question. Lets say its a zig zag tour of the great state of jersey day. I declare min fuel. Is it the general mindset (if you can speak for others) of the EWR TRACON that a min fuel guy will get less zig zags or cut a spot or 2 in line or will the min fuel guy just not get any extra zig zags? This is the semi bad thing about Min Fuel since it leaves some grey room. Whats undue delay to you and undue delay to me may be two completely different things at that point in time.