Tax reform!
They’re supposed to land with a 10% fuel reserve.
If they project a lower reserve early on, they may be required to return to top off.
I bet that was “taxing”.
Maybe trying to cover up that they forgot to fill up the tank before leaving the gate. If on a road trip I realize that I forgot, I’d prefer to say it might be good to top off the tank before we go any further.
Flying around fuel you don't need costs the airlines money, and puts undue stress on the aircraft.
So they carry the minimum safe amount, plus a cushion for the usual delays. This delay must have been unusual, and cut into their safety reserve.
In the fast few years airlines have been putting as little fuel in planes as they can get away with. Less fuel, less weight. I don’t like it at all.
Fuel = weight. Too much of wrong weight = lower profits. Its a balancing game.
They don’t completely fill the fuel tanks for a shorter flight. The extra weight would just burn more fuel. But they might be cutting things a little close if they’re not sure they can make it to their destination after idling the engines for an hour or so.
I used to live in LA, and have probably flown into LAX thirty times, maybe 50. Once as we were approaching from the east we were told that we had to make another approach because ground control was “turning the runways around”. The pilot made this announcement, and then corrected himself, saying “They’re actually turning the traffic pattern around, the runways are staying the way they are”. We then went out over the Pacific and landed. Sounds like that’s what happened to you.
Fuel consumption is based on weight/passengers - either the plane was close to its maximum hopping distance already, they miscalculated the weight/passengers or they never checked the fuel gauge until they started taxiing. In any event they lied to you! :)
The aborted landing approach may have been a mistake or the air traffic control might’ve told them to divert (traffic, weather, priority, etc)
What happens is that excessive taxi times sometimes burns up the reserve fuel that is is held is storage in the aircraft fuel tanks for emergency operations, caused by bad weather, heavy traffic, mechanical problems, during the flight route, etc. A captain will always opt for a safety margin to have more then enough fuel on board as he takes off...just in case.
Your “go-around” at LAX is usually caused by traffic on the ground, delayed for a take-off or traffic problem. Either the tower will call for the “go-around” or the Captain will call for it..if he deems it necessary to avoid an accident or a potential unsafe landing condition. The Captain operating must always follow the ground controller’s instructions, but he can call for his own “go-around” if he thinks danger might lurk. These “Fly Around” acts are daily routine activities.
Fuel is always low, so a previous flight might have cut it too short. The turn around might have been a change in runway direction.
DFW is a huge airport, once I asked the flight attendant while we were taxiing “Are we driving to Albuquerque?”
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’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.
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.