Are you flying on a fuel savings program? New Theory

[PCL_128]

Just curious, but why can't/won't you make tankering decisions?

The dispatcher decides the fuel load before we ever arrive at the airplane, and the fuel is usually already loaded and the fueler long gone. If I want more fuel, then I can certainly call the dispatcher and ask for more, but I haven't seen a reason to. If the company wants to keep the fuel loads low, then I've got no problem with that. I'll just divert whenever the fuel gets down to "decision fuel" and that's that. I don't make a habit of argueing with dispatchers over fuel loads.

 

[Flyerjosh]

Hey Rez...

If you were going from BWI to LIT and then on to LAS... and fuel in BWI was $1.72... and in LIT was $2.26... would you load up in Baltimore, or bend over in Little Rock ???

Wow... wish I could find JetA for 1.72 or 2.26! Last time I fueled up it was to the order of about 4.60/gallon.

In the corporate world, we will tank a reasonable amount of fuel with us if the price varies more than about $.50/gallon. Of course this is dicated by how much fuel we can take in relation to the payload and performance/weight limits.

 

[ReverseSensing]

Interesting responses. At QX, the Captain orders the fuel prior to each leg. The release has Min Total, and Optimum, but no max. Optimum kind of takes tankering into account, but is always conservative so as to protect projected payload. Oftentimes the optimum amount is still a little too little to round-trip an outstation in the 200. There is a big push on at QX to put more tools in DX and on the flightdeck to optimize tankering opportunities out of hubs. With the 200 being so zero fuel weight limited, a good deal of mental energy is expended on the flightdeck to carry enough fuel to roundtrip expensive stations, without bumping revenue.

The company even recently stopped requiring irregularity reports if fuel loads bumped revenue.

 

[X-Wind]

There is a price to pay for Tankering...anyone know this gouge?

 

[Cardinal]

There is a price to pay for Tankering...anyone know this gouge?

Varies a little by airplane, but an accepted figure for a jet is 5% per hour.

That seems a litte high to me. Our dispatch software puts a number on the release, i.e., Additional 1000 lbs takeoff weight will burn 40 lbs. 40 per 1000 is what we'd see on a 2 hour leg, so the penalty for an A319 might be closer to 2 or 3% at lower weights.

 

[X-Wind]

Thanks for the info.....The airplane I'm flying is a G100. You mentioned software, do you know if the fuel savings plan is integrated in the FOS charter software? If not, do you know where I can get such fuel savings software?