Oops, we miscalculated the fuel
 

JFK-CDG, airline to remain nameless (since we -did- get there). The pilot comes on and announces that the fuel numbers supplied by the fueler don't calculate correctly, and the gauges read OK, but we are going to sit on the tarmac while the aircraft undergoes a "manual fuel verification procedure" (presumably some guys with dipsticks). The pilot claimed this was the first occurrence of this type in his 25 years with the airline. This certainly made for an interesting flight! Has something like this ever happened to you?

Since this post does not share specific details about the trip and solicits other peoples' experiences, I think it is better suited to the TravelBuzz forum. I am accordingly relocating it there.

Thanks
Sean (B747-437B)

Moderator
Trip Reports

At least you didn't have a "Gimli glider" incident (Air Canada) or an incident where a plane flying to Portugal had to make an emergency landing in the Azores (Air Transat). Does anyone know of any running out of fuel stories that did not have a happy ending?

Why are you hiding the identity of the airline?

I've never seen anything quite like that.

One time we were all set to push back when the captain made an announcement that the fuelers had loaded on too much fuel for our (short) flight and that we'd be delayed for a half-hour. His answer to the obvious question (Why does it take so long to offload some fuel?) was that they have lots of big trucks with big pumps to load aircraft, but only a small truck with a much slower pump to unload them.

I've never heard of this.

I've been on a plane sat at LCY over a fuel payment dispute, eventually resolved by the pilot (seen making furious gestures out the window - the standing start required at LCY was even more vicious than usual after that...)

I've also been on a KLM AMS-VIE flight that was forced to divert to MUC as it did not have enough fuel to stack at VIE for 45 minutes following an earlier airport closure. That wasn't encouraging.

I've also been on a few hot summer afternoon flights DCA-MCI where we had to make a pit stop in various places like Louisville, Nashville, or Indy.

Those were planned pit stops: the 1000-mile rule out of DCA quickly becomes about a 700-mile rule for a fully loaded 737 on a 90 degree day, especially if there was any bad weather predicted along the way. Instead of cancelling flights, US Airways just stopped for gas along the way.

1. To reward the Captain for being upfront about the situation and giving the pax a chance to call their loved ones.

2. The incident was probably the fault of the fuel jockey (who, presumably, is out of a job) and not the airline.

On a flight from MAD-LHR, we and others sat down in Bournemouth to refuel and hang out while waiting for clearance into LHR. Does anyone know if the is a common occurrence given the volume of traffic into LHR?

I don't see it that often. More often you see that they're delayed at origin (and there's a lot of very short-haul flights around).

Did they let people headed for the South Coast off at BOH? I know that when we stopped on that AMS-VIE flight at MUC, some people were very unhappy they couldn't leave there (despite the fact we were on a terminal stand).

The doors never opened. We pulled up near some hangers for fuel and then hung out there until it was time to go.

Of course, the Gimli glider incident was caused by the very same manual fuel verification procedure being calculated wrongly! I suspect any time they do the manual procedure they recheck VERY carefully these days...

Didn't the Ethiopian 767 hijacking end in a ditching cause it ran out of gas?

N674UW

Yes, A JFK-CDG flight that ran out of fuel would, in all likelihood, end in a ditching. Having seen the footage of the Ethiopian ditching, I imagine a pilot would have to flare the airplane at touchdown a LOT more than did the Ethiopian pilot, touching down tailcone first, for the main part of the aircraft fuselage to not break-up. But I am speculating. At that point the lucky survivors would be in the chilly North Atlantic, hanging onto their seat cushions, for the 10 minutes it would take to succumb to hypothermia. This scenario replayed itself over and over in my mind most of the way to CDG.

As I recall, the hijaackers were in control of the plane, which is why it went in the way it did (not that any ditching would be easy...)