Flight Planning and Monitoring
Flight Planning and Monitoring tests whether you can build a legal fuel plan, file a correct flight plan, and monitor it in the air. Expect fuel-policy arithmetic, ICAO flight-plan content, and the meaning of 'minimum fuel'.
Fuel policy (turbine aeroplane)
- Taxi fuel; trip fuel; contingency, normally 5% of trip fuel (3% with an en-route alternate); alternate fuel; final reserve of 30 minutes holding at 1 500 ft above the alternate in ISA; additional fuel at the commander's discretion.
- 'Minimum fuel' declares that you may land below final reserve; 'MAYDAY FUEL' means you will land below final reserve and require priority.
Flight plan and monitoring
- An ICAO flight plan is filed before departure, commonly at least 30 minutes or as the ATS unit requires; a change of Mach number or level beyond the notified tolerance must be reported.
- The PLOG is updated at each waypoint; a fuel check compares actual with planned, and a shortfall trending beyond about 5% requires a decision.
- The equal time point (ETP) and point of no return (PNR) use wind to find where return time equals continue time; reclearance relies on a second destination.
Worked example
Trip fuel 4 000 kg, alternate 800 kg, taxi 200 kg, holding 1 200 kg/h. Contingency = 5% × 4 000 = 200 kg. Final reserve = 30 min at 1 200 kg/h = 600 kg. Minimum block fuel = 200 + 4 000 + 200 + 800 + 600 = 5 800 kg. If the commander adds 400 kg for forecast thunderstorms, the extra fuel does not change the alternate or reserve figures.
Traps
Adding contingency to the total instead of to trip fuel; using 45 minutes for the final reserve of a turbine aeroplane; forgetting that an alternate is not required when the destination allows a visual approach and the weather is suitable; and treating a cruising-level change as trivial when it moves the ETP. Always check whether the question asks block, ramp or take-off fuel.