Diversion due to insufficient fuel

el kabong

I was on FR633 today, Ryanair, Copenhagen to Dublin. Scheduled flight time 2:15. Took off at 14:54 Irish time. Approaching Dublin the pilot announced an expected arrival time of 16:45. We circled around Dublin for a bit, before the pilot declared at 16:50 that we had insufficient fuel to continue to circle, and diverted to Belfast, where we landed at 17:10. To a complete amateur that seems like a very light fuel load, but maybe it's completely legit. Can anybody with more expertise comment?

tricky D

There were storms in the vicinity at the time, with a massive squall/downpour near Howth (on approach) and your flight had a handful of other aircraft in front of it who were spending a good bit of time in the holding pattern.

Locker10a

Pretty sure theres a legal minimum of fuel that must be taken which both pilots must agree on and must be enough to divert, but many Captains take more than this minimum requirement out of experience and good practice for the very type of situation that arose on your flight where additional holding was required. Unfortunately the calculations for your flight didnt work in your favor.

faoiarvok

Obviously you were still in the hold past your EAT, so it got delayed. In this case I believe (and I’m open to correction on this) if the new EAT means they’ll be eating in to the required reserve while holding, they have to divert.

Chris_5339762

Did they bus you down or fly down later?

mr.anonymous

I think standard to have on board is 30 mins. ATC probably gave an estimated approach time of >30 mins. Might have also had stronger headwinds en route than forecast, for example, which would give less fuel to hold.

faoiarvok

Definitions from Skybrary:

Reserve fuel is the sum of Alternate fuel plus Final Reserve fuel

Alternate fuel is the amount of fuel required from the missed approach point at the destination aerodrome until landing at the alternate aerodrome. It takes into account the required fuel for:

Missed approach at the destination airport
Climb to enroute altitude, cruise and descent at alternate aerodrome
Approach at alternate
Landing at the alternate aerodrome

Final reserve fuel is the minimum fuel required to fly for 30 minutes at 1,500 feet above the alternate aerodrome or, if an alternate is not required, at the destination aerodrome at holding speed in ISA conditions. Some Regulating Authorities require sufficient fuel to hold for 45 minutes

Oscar Bravo

el kabong wrote: »

I was on FR633 today, Ryanair, Copenhagen to Dublin. Scheduled flight time 2:15. Took off at 14:54 Irish time. Approaching Dublin the pilot announced an expected arrival time of 16:45. We circled around Dublin for a bit, before the pilot declared at 16:50 that we had insufficient fuel to continue to circle, and diverted to Belfast, where we landed at 17:10. To a complete amateur that seems like a very light fuel load, but maybe it's completely legit. Can anybody with more expertise comment?

The aircraft also got hit by lightning and pilot opted to get out of them(thunderstorms) and divert to Belfast.

Qprmeath

Oscar Bravo wrote: »

The aircraft also got hit by lightning and pilot opted to get out of them(thunderstorms) and divert to Belfast.

Ei935 Lhr to Belfast did the opposite and landed in Dublin this evening.

robclay26

Photo of the CB’s around Dublin, we got a strike on the front right side of the plane so the aircraft was grounded in Belfast after for inspection. In fairness to Ryanair the crew where great and we didn’t have a massive wait from landing until we got on the bus. Could have been much worse.

el kabong

robclay26 wrote: »

Photo of the CB’s around Dublin, we got a strike on the front right side of the plane so the aircraft was grounded in Belfast after for inspection. In fairness to Ryanair the crew where great and we didn’t have a massive wait from landing until we got on the bus. Could have been much worse.

What time did your bus get out of the coachpark? Everyone got onto our bus pretty quickly alright, but then it sat in the the coachpark for nearly an hour, the bus driver telling us that some issue needed to be sorted before he could leave. Finally left the coachpark at 19:35, the bus driver told us at that point that the delay had been a dispute between Ryanair and the airport, with Ryanair claiming that they had already paid for parking and the airport believing that they hadn't and refusing to lift the barrier. Online pricing seems to indicate that the cost is 6 GBP/hour. There were a lot of very unhappy people on our bus when they learned the reason for the delay. Whoever was right or wrong, both sides displayed little regard for their customers over a trivial amount of money.