Airline pilots union discussing planes flying with 15 minutes extra fuel on

[lonestarnot]

U.S. Airways. I live under a flight path to the aeropuerto. Hope one doesn't fall on my fucking head. Makes one never want to fly again, so how will I get to the 6 brazillion man march? Ride the dogs?

[MercutioATC]

1. That will never happen.

"15 minutes of extra fuel" means 15 minutes of flying time AFTER being delayed at their destination and traveling to their filed alternate destination.

No commercial aircraft will ever fall out of the sky for lack of fuel.

[lonestarnot]

2. I just heard the pilots talking about it and they said they were not comfortable with the amounts

being put in the planes before taking off and I don't think they would lie.

[MercutioATC]

3. We will always put them down someplace before they run out of fuel.

As an air traffic controller, I guarantee that.

I believe the actual issue is that, due to fuel costs, they're not being given reasonable reserve fuel for holding at their destination. However, FAA regulations require that they be able to land at their alternate airport with something like 45 minutes of reserve fuel...and that's after they hold at their originally-intended destination and hold.

[DesertFlower]

4. well that makes me feel better. nt

[lonestarnot]

5. me too somewhat.

[EFerrari]

6. But that's exactly it. They're being asked to fly with less than 45 min

of reserve fuel -- even though the union guys stop exactly short of saying that. The story was all over the late night news here.