In article , Alistair Gunn
writes
"Sharkey" Ward's squadron (601) on HMS Invincible was told, by him, not
to land with more than 800lbs of fuel onboard. (By contrast, on HMS
Hermes they where landing with at least 2000lbs worth of fuel. Ward
claims his squadrons where thus getting at least 20 minutes more CAP time
per flight.)

The less fuel you have, the less you need to maintain the hover...

--
John