Posted on 04/05/2018 6:44:01 AM PDT by vespa300
Sorry for the Vanity. Just had to ask. Had a weird flight a couple of days ago. DFW to L.A. American Airlines. We taxied out as usual, didn't seem that long, no more than usual...and then we turned and headed back to the gate.
We have had numerous negative experiences with American Airlines over the past few years. So bad, that we will NEVER again book a flight anywhere with them. Period.
Maybe the pilot’s wife used the plane the night before and didn’t put gas in it.
This is why airplanes need that auto-shutoff system that a lot of new cars have. If the car is waiting at a stoplight, the engine will shut off to save fuel.
You can find this feature, and many others, in the cars we have down at the lot here at Barack Obama Buick in beautiful Oxnard By The Sea, California!
25 yrs ago flying out of DC. Plane is loaded pulling out of gate- suddenly plane reverses back to gate. everyone is hustled off into the concourse away from windows. Tornado on airfield. All clear reload plane - off to the taxi way - me in window seat - we were cleared for take off- I am looking out window- on to the tarmac we go- I am watching another plane coming in for landing same runway- full power back to taxiway.
Go around back to tarmac
Take off German couple next to me- pilot comes and quietly says that there was two planes trying to use same runway.
Couple askes me if they heard correctly,I informed them that was true , as I had witnessed thru window,
They probably never were same after that experience
I had a very inconvenient Southwest flight because of that last fall. DEN-BNA with a stop in MCI (KC). But there was a thunderstorm in KC so after circling for a while, the pilot said that fuel was getting low and that we would have to land in Topeka! Topeka doesn’t really have an airport though. No jetways. So we sat on the ground in the hot (100% full) plane waiting for the storm to pass. Could not deplane could not even open the doors. SUCKED!
Just sayin', when I used to fly (single engine) whenever I got fuel, I filled the tanks up all the way.
ML/NJ
I’ve done something similar. The pilot probably only had a few bucks on him at the end of his previous flight and just wanted to get home so he thought to himself, “Shoot, I’ll just get enough to get home. I’ll fill up tomorrow”, and then forgot.
Another possibility is that the weather changed for their primary alternate. This time of year we get fog forecasts for the evenings and early mornings along the coast that might have put their alternate below minimums for the arrival time. The calculated reserve at destination requirement may have gone up it they had to switch alternates to SFO or PHX rather than JWO.
>>>We have had numerous negative experiences with American Airlines over the past few years. So bad, that we will NEVER again book a flight anywhere with them. Period.>>>
Sorry to hear this. My experience has been the opposite. In fact, except for this hiccup. As a gold member, American is the only airline I fly. Never had a problem. Sorry you have had a different experience.
Australian Qantas Airlines just inaugurated a direct flight from Perth to London. That’s approximately 17 hours in duration ... one of the longest in commercial aviation. That would require taking on maximum fuel capacity, with very little left upon arrival at destination.
I’ve been on two flights where the pilot had to land and refuel based on potential bad weather at the final destination. Just in case we had to circle for a while.
On a flight for 17 hours. I can’t process that. Get a full night’s sleep, wake up......and you are about half way there? I can’t process that. I get jumpy after about 2 hours and the movie ends.
Damn fuel taxes.
Alternatively, it may also have to do FAA rules. I think airlines can be penalized for late departures. So sometimes they game the system by taxiing a bit when they know in advance there’s going to be a delay.
I have no idea if this is the case with you - I’m just saying it could’ve be a factor in the entire sequence of events you experienced.
This is dependent upon weather at the destination airfield. FAR Part 91 has multiple conditions on fuel requirements, both VFR and IFR. Worst case scenario was enough fuel for destination plus alternate plus 30 minutes (45 at night).
Lets say the flight uses 100 gallons. 20 gallons are for safety. Total fuel required 120 for the flight at takeoff. Add 5 more for taxiing. 125.
Prolonged taxiing consumes 6 gallons. Oops! Youre now at 119 which is 9 more than then used but 1 less than required. Back to the pump you go.
They don't take off with full tanks if they can help it because fuel weighs about 8 lbs./gallon, and weight = $$$ spent so if they think they can make it to the next stop with the fuel on board they take off. Of course they maintain a certain reserve and in your case, the reserve got too close to zero or below zero.
You do it yourself in your car because you don't stop at every gas station.
I don’t know the plane or how many passengers or how much fuel, but we can speculate that in some context it may not have been that the plane lacked as much fuel as needed for the DFW to LAX flight generally, but, for whatever reason, did not have left in it the regulation-required fuel for the flight, which would include fuel for contingencies. Of course, not knowing facts, it does make any of us question if they knew they had too little fuel (as far as regulations) before they took off, or if pilot and co-piloted incorrectly checked it.
As to the change in flight pattern just before landing, it sounds to me like there was a last minute change from the LAX tower for which runway the plane was to use. With all the traffic around LAX, getting to a higher altitude, above a lot of that traffic, heading out over the ocean, and then turning back for the descent to the runway, is something I have experienced on flights into LAX before.
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