Fuel Sense
 

Copied from AvWeb Nov. 08, 2007


Skimping On Fuel Leads To More "Emergencies"


At busy Newark Liberty International Airport, just outside New York, 73 flights landed after telling controllers they were operating with minimum or low fuel during six months this year, compared to just five flights making the same declaration during a similar period in 2005. An additional 10 flight crews declared an emergency fuel situation, requesting to land immediately, according to WABC News. The WABC report blames cash-strapped airlines for pressuring their crews to carry minimum fuel, saving money by cutting weight on the flights. "They're taking away the margin of safety," former NTSB Chairman James Hall told WABC. "Seeing numbers like that, the FAA administrators should be calling the airlines in on the carpet and find out what's going on." WABC also cites anonymous reports from NASA's aviation safety reporting system in which one pilot says an airline's "fuel saving program takes preference over safety," and another writes, "It's a case of dice rolling at its most dangerous."



Air traffic controller Ray Adams told WABC that in the last two years he's noticed an astounding increase in the number of flights coming into Newark under minimum or emergency fuel conditions.

When reviewing your FP/R prior to flight, double-check the altitudes at the end of the flight. We had one two days ago (for a 3+hour flight) that had us at FL390 at GQE on the arrival--that "allowed" us to have a FAT of 2K over our min FAT at destination. Not very realistic, and we added fuel.

I'll put myself on report and say that I landed the Bus in EWR 2 weeks ago with 9K of fuel on board. Started off with 45 minutes of extra, held for an hour. I won't make that mistake again if the wx in EWR is anything less than CAVU.

Hey - just take what they give us and land short if you can't get there from here. How many service failures do you think it will take before the problem gets fixed. By you adding fuel to make it work, the bean counters just end up patting themselves on the back thinking they are doing a good job.

A300jetflyer,

Your avatar is highly offensive. The degredation of our company logo is NOT acceptable. You need to have that lass REMOVE that shirt then repost the avatar without the shirt. I think we'd all be a lot less offended...

That's a "planned" 9k at touchdown, not a must land at the destination w/ 9k.

I fully support Albie's position on that avatar issue. Holy Smoke!

What does edSe mean:D Whatever it is, I like it!
fbh

Funny, I didn't even see the letters. I think it's one of those puzzles, where you stare at it(them) for a long time, and then they start to move(bounce). Anybody else have this affliction?

7/32

Yeah, the "hidden" arrow is messed up, have that removed immediately!

FJ