Minimum Fuel at Plaisance: The Second Hold Instruction
A twin-jet is inbound to Plaisance (FIMP) from Johannesburg on a night IFR flight. The destination alternate is Réunion Roland Garros (FMEE), 35 minutes away. FIMP weather: thunderstorm with heavy showers, scattered cumulonimbus, visibility 4,000 m, wind 120°/18 kt gusting 30, ILS RWY 14 in use. Two preceding aircraft have gone around. Company figures: final reserve 1,200 kg (30 minutes at 2,400 kg/h), holding burn 2,300 kg/h, fuel to FMEE including approach 1,150 kg, approach plus landing or missed approach 550 kg. At 15 nm final the fuel on board is 3,400 kg. ATC transmits: 'Expect one orbit, 12 minutes.' The crew accepts. After the go-around and 12 minutes in the hold, ATC transmits: 'Expect a further 15 minutes delay.' Fuel remaining at that moment is 2,390 kg. Nothing has been declared yet, and the crew is still cleared to hold at 4,000 ft.
1. Calculate the fuel position and state exactly what the commander should transmit now, with the reasoning behind the choice of phrase.
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Fuel position
- Fuel after the go-around: 3,400 − 550 = 2,850 kg.
- Fuel after 12 minutes holding (2,300 kg/h ≈ 38 kg/min): 2,850 − 460 = 2,390 kg.
- Fuel needed to divert: 1,150 (to FMEE) + 1,200 (final reserve) = 2,350 kg.
- Margin over the diversion requirement: 2,390 − 2,350 = 40 kg, about one minute of holding.
So the diversion is effectively no longer available. If the crew accepts the further 15 minutes (≈575 kg), fuel becomes 2,015 kg; a landing at FIMP then leaves about 1,765 kg, but a second go-around (≈350 kg) and a further approach (≈250 kg) would leave about 965 kg - below the 1,200 kg final reserve.
Transmission
'MAYDAY' is premature; the correct call is the advisory: 'FIMP Approach, [callsign] is MINIMUM FUEL, request landing assured, we can accept no further delay.' This tells ATC the aircraft is committed to FIMP and that any change to the current clearance or sequence may result in a landing below final reserve. It is not a distress call, but it must change ATC's sequencing priorities: this aircraft now needs the shortest available approach and must not be given further vectors or holdings. The commander should also state the fuel endurance in minutes so ATC can plan.
2. Distinguish MINIMUM FUEL from MAYDAY FUEL, and state what each requires of ATC and of the commander.
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MINIMUM FUEL (ICAO Annex 2 / PANS-ATM phraseology)
An advisory declaration that the aircraft's fuel state is such that it is committed to land at a specified aerodrome and that any change to the clearance may result in landing below final reserve fuel. It is not an emergency and does not of itself invoke distress procedures, but ATC must give the flight priority and avoid any instruction that increases the time to landing. The commander retains normal decision-making authority: the declaration is not a request for permission.
MAYDAY FUEL
A distress message declared when the fuel calculated to be available on landing is below the final reserve fuel. At that point the commander is declaring an emergency and ATC must give absolute priority, alert the rescue and fire-fighting service as required, and clear the airspace as necessary.
In this scenario
At 2,390 kg the aircraft is in the MINIMUM FUEL condition with respect to a diversion, but still legally able to land at FIMP. The MAYDAY FUEL trigger occurs at the second go-around: if the approach is missed, the fuel remaining (about 1,765 − 350 = 1,415 kg) will not support another approach and landing (≈250 kg) plus the 1,200 kg final reserve, so a distress call is required at the go-around, not after the fuel is already low. Declaring early is what buys the priority; declaring late converts an advisory into an emergency.
3. Evaluate the decision to accept the 12-minute hold at the go-around. What should the commander have done instead?
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At the go-around the fuel was 2,850 kg against a diversion requirement of 2,350 kg, i.e. a 500 kg buffer - roughly 13 minutes of holding. The crew spent 12 of those 13 minutes on a hold with no landing assurance, from a weather situation (thunderstorm over the field, two preceding go-arounds) that suggested a real probability of a second miss.
A sounder decision process:
- Set a decision fuel before accepting any hold - here, for example, 2,600 kg - below which the crew diverts while the diversion still has a reserve margin.
- Accept a hold only with a landing assurance, or a hold short enough to preserve at least one go-around plus the diversion.
- Recognise that a hold at 4,000 ft in convective weather is exactly where a second go-around is most likely, so the buffer must cover a missed approach, not just the hold time.
The error was not the arithmetic; it was continuing to treat FIMP as the destination after the first go-around without any assurance, when FMEE remained comfortably within reach. Diverting at 2,850 kg would have landed with about 1,700 kg at Réunion - legal, safe, and with no declaration required at all.