MLF and Reserve fuel - technical questions for anyone who knows

[Guest VHOJU]

Hi there guys - I have a few technical questions about reserve fuel:- Does anyone know the ICAO contingency fuel requirements - is it 5% or 10% (assuming no re-release) or the total trip fuel. I like to fly for Qantas, and I can't seem to find andy info. on Australian regulations anywhere. Also, if a foreign airline with different regulations flies in/out of US, do they have to use the fuel regulations of the FAA?As far as I understand, spare fuel without re-release should be:30 minutes holding fuel5% of trip fuel, or 15 minutes more holding, whichever is moreAlternate fuelMinimum landing fuel - 11,000lbs (I know in the PMDG manual it says 19,000 or 24,000, but I saw somewhere that United carried (in 1998) 11,000lbs MLF)Does anyone have any knowledge or corrections they could add to my understanding? Any ideas would be great.Thanks,Rudy.

[Guest Hawkeyeted]

You're correct in that PMDG says 19,000 for "short" flights and 24,000 for "long" flights. You are also correct in that United recommends 11,100 lbs as "min landing fuel". I can't help you with Aussie regulations, but in the US FAA requires approx 45 minutes holding fuel at destination.What I usually plan:-Fuel from original destination to alternate.-45 minutes holding at orginal destination-11,100 lbs Min Landing Fuel (also what I enter in the Reserve block in the FMC.)

[Guest capntom]

The minimum operational landing fuel is 5500kg, this is a figure that takes into account possible uncovering of pumps on go-around, and fuel tank indication error.The figure that we enter into in the reserve block is the fuel at arrival at alternate plus 7000 kg. This might vary, but is close enough to general practice to use. We fly for QANTAS sometimes, but use our own flight planning and ops specs.Typical go-around and trip around the pea-patch uses about 3500 kg....Tom

[Guest VHOJU]

Thanks so much for the great replies guys! Things are definitely more clear now. I thought that I used to find 19.000 or 24.000 lbs minimum landing fuel too much for most long hauls (a lot of payload had to be kicked off!).Thanks again for your help, it's very nice of you.CheersRudy

[Guest capntom]

Typical actual landing fuel for a typical destination will be around 12,000kg, depending on the alternate. We use planned min of 7000kg at the alternate and a close by alternate might add 3500 kg to that, giving a biingo fuel of 10.5, add some for ATC, pattern, congestion, redispatch pad etc and 13,000 is a good comfortble figure. Note, those are in KILOGRAMS.The freighters often carry a pretty good payload, pax weigh little in comparison. Ya would have to go a long ways in a pax bird to be takeoff limited from most fields.Tom

[VHOJT 172]

Hello there CapnTom and everyoneSorry to drag this back up again - I have a rather niggling question that's been brewing for a while!I have seen a couple of BA/CX flight plans recently, and I'll use the CX one as an example.It plans 5500 CONT, 7500 for the alternate, and 4000 RESERVE (and REC Extra 6400 - for the fuel shortage at LHR presently I think).There seems to be an absence of holding fuel and minimum landing fuel - uses the same fuel categories. There must be something that I am missing?Again, sorry to drag this up again! Thanks for any replyRudy