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Where was it from and where was it going and why did it need a fuel stop?
It was going from FRA to CLT on the 26th of May. Apparently it needed more fuel due to thunderstorms all down the East coast that day.
FRA - CLT is a little tight on fuel. FRA fills the airplane up with cargo. Last time I flew that flight we were limited to 240 passengers, down from 288. We still took off at maximum gross weight.
Driver B)
What do you think.... did the captain ask to tanker some fuel for T-Storms and get told he was being too cautious? Or was the company using the fuel saving trick of filing primary to Boston with a divert to CLT if able ? .... In Air Force fuel school they taught me that the fuel savings I gain, by cutting fuel loads to the minimum on every flight over a twenty year career, are immediately eliminated by one divert (but that was back when I could fill up my car at the local Texaco for 23 cents a gallon ) .
Kudos to the captain, crew, and dispatcher.
Who knows exactly what happened? I can probably state with much certainty that this scenario is reasonably accurate:
First, I have never been questioned, or second guessed, by a US Airways dispatcher when I have requested more fuel than he thought was adequate in the flight plan. Since the "Fuel School" debacle, the dispatchers are indeed very vocally co-operative in this regard. I sincerely doubt that the captain was given any difficulty. Given the information in the planning room in FRA, the captain and dispatcher obviously agreed on the fuel load that was used departing FRA. That meeting of the minds took place at least 7 or 8 hours before the airplane got close to BOS. Spring/summer weather on the east coast can change significantly in that amount of time. Forecasts often change during that period. Winds aloft forecasts may have been inaccurate. A lot of factors could have changed enroute that made the decision to stop in BOS for fuel as wise one.
What they taught you in the Air Force was wrong. I can say that; I was an Air Force pilot, too. Not that I think cutting fuel loads to the minimum on every flight is necessarily a great idea, either.
That fuel savings "trick" you are talking about is known as a "Rerelease Flight Plan." It is the industry standard, happens on virtually every transatlantic flight with every airline, and it does save a lot of fuel without compromising safety. The one downside of that system is that is does rarely cause a flight to land SAFELY with plenty of fuel at the "released" airport...in this case it was likely BOS.
This BOS diversion was a non-event; a fine video of the system working exactly as intended.
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Hey my buddy is in ATC in BOS tower.. he makes 175 K per year.. ..good for him.
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First, I have never been questioned, or second guessed, by a US Airways dispatcher when I have requested more fuel than he thought was adequate in the flight plan. Since the "Fuel School" debacle, the dispatchers are indeed very vocally co-operative in this regard. I sincerely doubt that the captain was given any difficulty.
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What they taught you in the Air Force was wrong. I can say that; I was an Air Force pilot, too. Not that I think cutting fuel loads to the minimum on every flight is necessarily a great idea, either.