Ryanair lands with less than mnimum fuel left

[Passion for flying]

Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet yesterday published an article where a Ryanair flight from Swedish Skavsta (ESKN) to Madrid, Spain on JUly 26 was held before landing in a holding circuit due to weather issues in Madrid. It was held in holding for one hour until it had to divert to Valencia, as the minimum remaining fuel was below 30 minutes flying time.
The flight allegedly landed with "considerably" less than the statutory prescribed fuel quantity remaining.
Passenger comments suggested that a minimum of information was served to the cabin during the course of the event "the silence was the scariest part". Cockpit altitude too high?
The article contains at least one comment by an other airline pilot who stated that "I have been flying for 25 years and never ended up in a situation with so little fuel remaining at landing"

Is this a sign of the finance department taking a firm grip of the cash flow and keeping each fueling to minimums or what is happening?

Does anyone have additional information on this one?
The forum's opinions are welcome!

[Evan]

One hour holding fuel plus 30 minutes alternate reserves... sounds pretty adequate to me. I had a similar experience with Northwest holding over San Francisco, then diverting to Sacramento on fumes I assume.

Cost savings? It's not like they were doing reclearance-in-flight...

[Gabriel]

You are supposed (read required) to land with 30 minutes of fuel.
If you are circling waiting for the weather to clear, you have to quit once you have "fuel to alternate + 30 minutes".

In fact, you are required to declare an emergency not when you have 30 minutes of fuel left, but when you realize that you'll land with less than 30 minutes of fuel.

[Peter Kesternich]

I wonder where the Swedish paper got their information from.

The flight was holding for an hour and then diverting. Nothing unusual about that. Also, from what I have read here, no fuel emergency was declared. Of course that doesn't mean that none existed, but I highly doubt that this happened. Think about it: the ABSOLUTELY WORST thing that could happen to Ryanair is an accident because they were cutting costs. I am pretty sure that Michael O'Leary told his taff that they could save money anywhere they wanted except when it comes to safety.

[snydersnapshots]

Originally Posted by Gabriel

You are supposed (read required) to land with 30 minutes of fuel.
If you are circling waiting for the weather to clear, you have to quit once you have "fuel to alternate + 30 minutes".

In fact, you are required to declare an emergency not when you have 30 minutes of fuel left, but when you realize that you'll land with less than 30 minutes of fuel.

In the 11 airlines I've been with, I have never seen anywhere in an ops manual where I am required to declare an emergency with any specific amount of fuel remaining. (The Operations Manual is the manual containing all the operations specifications (ops specs) and other information specific to the airline--an FAA approved manual that carries the weight of the FAR's). Now, to burn into that fuel, you may be using your "captain's emergency authority", but you are not required to declare an emergency.

I had a situation several years ago heading into Newark. They held us at an intersection near Washington DC on the way north. The captain and I worked out a "bingo" fuel amount after which we would divert to Baltimore. We told ATC of our plan and approximately how much time we had left. Before we got to that amount of fuel, they cleared us via the arrival into EWR and we pressed on in. Upon switching to New York Approach, the first words out of the controller's mouth were "Hold at Yardley". Followed closely by "Unable--Min fuel" out of my mouth. They vectored us and got us on final with around 45 minutes of fuel left. The captain and I worked out a plan wherein if they sent us around for some reason we were doing to declare an emergency and tell them we were making right traffic and landing runway 29. Period... end of sentence. We landed fine, but my refusal of the holding clearance is an example of the use of the captain's emergency authority without declaring an emergency.

[3WE]

Originally Posted by Passion for flying

Is this a sign of the finance department taking a firm grip of the cash flow and keeping each fueling to minimums or what is happening?

This has happened before...

...and will happen again.

The occasional incident doesn't bug me.

But what does bug me some is when the crews are scrutinized for taking "extra" fuel.

I recall hearing that one airline was issuing a periodic report that showed on average how the planes were carrying fuel in excess of the 'proper' safety buffer.

Yeah, on average planes don't crash- and I never understand why the families of the victims don't appreciate that more.

[TeeVee]

several years back i was on AA from LGA to FLL on an MD-80. we held over the ocean for 20 minutes due to storms over the filed. after being cleared to land and having to fly out over the everglades to approach from the west, we missed the approach and almost crashed due to some pretty insane weather that had the ac banked about 70 degrees to port. anyway, we diverted to orlando with the pilot saying that we didn't have enough fuel to make a 2nd attempt at landing at FLL. I assume he was contemplating a second missed approach and the later need to divert to a field not affected by the shit weather we were in.

[ultraflight]

Ryanair seems to be experiencing a high occurrence of technical problems.
Yesterday 8th September a flight from Pula (Croatia) bound for Oslo Rygge (Norway) had to make an emergency landing at Bergamo due to engine problems. Passengers complained of lack of information and unprofessional conduct of cabin crew, who were reported to have vacated emergency exit seats.

Last Friday 7th September another flight (from Madrid to the Canary islands) had to turn back due to lost cabin pressure. In this incident passengers claimed there were not sufficient oxygen masks functioning for all the passengers and also of a lack of professional behaviour and information from the cabin crew.

Something up with Ryanair, who I think had a pretty good safety record up to now....?

[guamainiac]

"Lack of information" ?? How much information to passengers need and indeed why start panic?

As a former mech I have been on a flight where I knew they had reduced power on an engine and could hear (bearings ?), and of course the plane was grounded but even when a few pax asked me (I was in uniform), what should I have told them?

The crew is better dealing with the real issues, much less induced hysteria.

Period and Amen!

[Passion for flying]

What do you expect from a company where the CEO publicly calls passengers "stupid".
Quoted from Travellers Today,

http://www.travelerstoday.com/articl...ers-idiots.htm

"We think Mrs. McLeod should pay 60 euros for being so stupid,"
Later he adds:
"We say quite politely, Bugger off."

A CEO who does not understand that the passengers (his customers) are actually paying every penny that makes his company run, is not worth his salary.
However, the worst part may be that Michael O´Leary runs his company the same way as he speaks publicly.
Leadership is the fine art of acting and speaking the way you want your employees to be. Bad language and misuse of power should not be part of it.

[Passion for flying]

Swedish tabloid Expressen today reports that Ryanair has had four recent events where their aircraft have landed with less than the regulatory prescribed quantity of fuel left on board.
Ryanair's vice director Shane McKeon reminds the pilots in a recent PM not to fly with "too much fuel"
Allegedly the airline has cut the weight of the cabin magazine as well as the amount of ice served to the passengers with paid drinks.
The company further urges the flying personnel to reduce their body weight, promising them to be published in the company calendar.
I would guess this offer applies mostly to the female crew....

This link offers further interesting insight to the matters:

http://www.independent.ie/national-n...y-3197081.html

PPRuNe has a discussion thread on the topic:

http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/4...e-time-14.html

[Passion for flying]

This is becoming a long story, and I will probably get some flak for pecking on Ryanair. However, there´s currently a lot happening with them, so I´ll take the risk, here goes:

Yesterday (22 sep) Ryanair had another distress landing. Flight FR 9086 from Alicante to Gothenburg had to make an unscheduled stop enroute, in Billund, DK. This is roughly 30 minutes flying from the destination.
There is no criticism against Ryanair for playing it safe. The passengers were not told anything beyond "technical problems".
The aeroplane was later replaced, and the passengers arrived ~5hours late at the destination. Deduction says this was not due to lack of fuel. Does anyone know what stopped them this time?

ASN link here:
http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=149257