One well known author for Flying magazine and pilot with U.S. Airways
once asked the flight department to research if any pilot had ever
asked for a 767 to be topped off in the history of the airline. He
found only one case. It costs a lot of money to take fuel, carry it up
to 33,000 feet and then carry it home unused. Airlines have never (to
my knowledge) carried such an arbitrary amount of fuel. Worst case, the
plane doesn't have enough fuel to wait for the weather at your
destination to improve and they just take you to another airport.

-Robert


wrote:
Can anyone back up this claim? It sounds convincing, but I want to
have a second opinion:


----Start quote-----
Apparently, the FAA (the same FAA who was going against our contract
and has cut out budget, cut trainees to replace all the people
retiring, and is attempting to speed up training by rushing through
important steps) is giving airlines a waver on gas. This waver states
that they don't have to fill up the plane all the way so they can save
on fuel costs. This means, they have exactly the amount of fuel they
need to get to their destination +45 minutes. Anything under that +45
minutes means an emergency. So that means these aircraft were getting
close to that emergency point. It's dangerous for the pilot, the
controller, and the passengers espicially.
-----End quote-----

I would appreciate any information anyone has about this. At least if
it's true or not.

Thanks!