from CLT base update letter Misguided Fuel Training
On Monday, August 25th, LAS weather caused several minimum fuel diversions into numerous airports on the West Coast. Flight 781, a 757, was dispatched into LAS with a scheduled landing fuel of 11,500 lbs. The Captain on this flight was one of the 8 Captains that were called in for fuel school.
This 30 year Captain, with approximately 10 years of experience on the 757, had personal policy based upon his experience that he would land with no less than 10,000 lbs for east coast destinations, and 14,000 lbs in LAS due to the lack of available nearby alternates.
The crew flew to ONT at long range cruise and eventually landed with 5000 lbs, well below the minimum landing fuel for the 757.
I still believe that discipline disguised as "training" is a precedent that must fought. However, I'd like to comment on the fuel issue described in the statement above.
10,000 lbs for East Coast and 14,000 for LAS arrivals????????? That seems like an awful lot of fuel to me. I remember at one point at UA we used numbers like 7000lbs for 757's and 9000-10000 for 767's. This was found to be about 2000 lbs HIGHER than most other operators of the 757 with our engines. I realize that US 757's may have different engines, but they can't be THAT less efficient.
Several years ago we switched, system wide, to an endurance based landing fuel instead of an arbitrary number of pounds, since endurance is the real concern. Let's face it... Your main concern is how long those engines will run until flame out. On a light airplane that number can vary significantly from a heavy one. So now our flight plans are based on arriving with 1 hour of fuel
🙂45 FAR fuel plus :15 contingency fuel) plus alternate fuel if applicable. In some destinations additional fuel is added based on historic ATC delays. Granted this was a bit of a culture shock for those who had been doing it the old way for decades. But the science of using actual endurance based on actual conditions is sound.
Now for the "minimum fuel" issue. Let's face it. Diverting to an alternate is not an unsuccessful outcome if it is done safely. And Minimum Fuel only means that the flight can not experience any further undue delay or a Fuel Emergency may develop. Minimum Fuel is NOT and emergency.
Again, I don't know what your 757's fuel burns are. But at UA, 5000 lbs of fuel is about 1:00 of endurance. Far from a dramatic event and beyond the FAA's required :45. 14,000 just sounds a bit excessive to me. And I have about 10 years of 757/767 experience as well.
And before anyone turns on the flame thrower, remember I said I don't condone disciplinary training. Just trying to add some perspective on 757 operation.
