www.CostaRicaTicas.com

All scheduled U.S. air carriers operate under FAR 121. The following is the Federal Air Regulation 121 governing fuel requirements:

Domestic Operations

Fly for I hour at normal cruise altitude at a fuel flow for end of cruise weight at the speed for 99 percent maximum range.
Exercise a missed approach and climbout at the destination airport; fly to and land at an alternate airport 200 nautical miles distant.

[522] International Operations

Fly for 10 percent of trip air time at normal cruise altitude at a fuel flow for end of cruise weight at the speed for 99 percent maximum range.
Exercise a missed approach and climbout at the destination airport; fly to an alternate airport 200 nautical miles distant.
Hold for 30 minutes at alternate airport at 1500 feet altitude.
Descend and land at alternate airport.

Flight to Alternate Airport (All Airplanes)

Power or thrust setting shall be for 99 percent of maximum subsonic range.
Power setting for holding shall be for maximum endurance or the minimum speed for comfortable handling, whichever is greater.
Cruise altitude shall be the optimum for best range except that it shall not exceed the altitude where cruise distance equals climb plus descent distance.


That is the minimum requirement. Each carrier can adopt their own policy but they can not fall below those minimums.



Think we need to hear from the OP on the source of his information and what the client heard from the flight crew as to why they were diverting.

_________________
Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

For all you aviation buffs the following is a short version of the NTSB report on that incident:

Accident description

Status: Final
Date: 25 JAN 1990
Time: 21:34 EST
Type: Boeing 707-321B
Operator: Avianca
Registration: HK-2016
C/n / msn: 19276/592
First flight: 1967
Total airframe hrs: 61196
Engines: 4 Pratt & Whitney JT3D-3B
Crew: Fatalities: 8 / Occupants: 9
Passengers: Fatalities: 65 / Occupants: 149
Total: Fatalities: 73 / Occupants: 158
Airplane damage: Destroyed
Airplane fate: Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location: Cove Neck, NY (United States of America)
Phase: Approach (APR)
Nature: International Scheduled Passenger
Departure airport: Rionegro/Medellín-José María Córdova Airport (MDE) (MDE/SKRG), Colombia
Destination airport: New York-John F. Kennedy International Airport, NY (JFK) (JFK/KJFK), United States of America
Flightnumber: 052

Narrative:
Avianca Flight AV052 (Bogotá - Medellin - New York-JFK) took off from Medellin at 15:08 with approx. 81000lb of fuel on board. When arriving near New York, the aircraft had to enter 3 holding patterns. The first for 19 minutes over Norfolk, the second for 29 minutes over New Jersey, and the third pattern over the CAMRN intersection for 29 minutes. Over CAMRN the aircraft descended from FL140 to FL110. At 20:44:43, while holding at CAMRN for 26 minutes, the New York (NY) ARTCC radar controller advised AVA052 to expect further clearance at 21:05. At that moment the Avianca crew advised ATC that they could only hold for 5 more minutes and that their alternate Boston couldn't be reached anymore due to the low state of fuel. The flight left the holding pattern at 20:47 and the crew contacted the New York TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach Control) who guided AV052 for a runway 22L ILS approach. On finals, at 21:15 the crew contacted JFK Tower and they were cleared to land four minutes later.
Due to the bad weather (300 feet ceiling, 400m visibility, RVR - runway Visual Range of 2400 feet and wind shear of ca. 10kt) the crew had to carry out a missed approach at 21:23. ATC vectored the crew for another approach. About 21:32, at 12 miles SE of JFK Airport, engines number 3 and 4 ran down. Shortly afterwards followed by the remaining two. At 21:34, heading 250° and flaps at 14° and gear up, the aircraft impacted on a hillside in a wooded residential area on the north shore of Long Island. The starboard side of the forward fuselage impacted and fractured the wooden deck of a residential home.

PROBABLE CAUSE: "The failure of the flight crew to adequately manage the airplane's fuel load, and their failure to communicate an emergency fuel situation to air traffic control before fuel exhaustion
occurred. Contributing to the accident was the flight crew's failure to use an airline operational control dispatch system to assist them during the international flight into a high-density airport in poor weather. Also contributing to the accident was inadequate traffic flow management by the FAA and the lack of standardized understandable terminology for pilots and controllers for minimum and emergency fuel states. The Safety Board also determines that windshear, crew fatigue and stress were factors that led to the unsuccessful completion of the first approach and thus contributed to the accident."

_________________
Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

My first trip to SJO and my worst experience. I booked a United R/T ticket PHL - SJO via IAD. Thunderstorms delayed the flight's departure at Philly. An hour later, the passengers were told to hurry-up and board the United commuter even though the weather conditions appeared not to have improved. During the pushback, the pilot informed us that the flight would have to wait on the tarmac indefinitely for further instructions. Five hours later, and a non-functioning lavatory, the aircraft was cleared for departure to Dulles. Arrived in Dulles 40 minutes later. Waited in line for 45 minutes to rebook on an American flight (via Miami) departing Dulles at 6:00 am on the following morning. I lost 1 day of a 3-day trip because of this delay.
United still gets my vote for worst domestic carrier to SJO... even over Spirit and American.

Still picking up CRT members and in my opinion, (which don't mean much to some, jejejejejejejje) is still the worst with on time average, problems, diverted flight and delays. Sorry AA fans. Maybe it will improve with the merger. Can't wait until June 2th when JetBlue starts flying out of FLL.

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Add a little spice to you life.This post is provided purely for entertainment purposes and free of charge on the part of the author. No "Sex tourism or travel" promotion is expressed or implied. The author of this post was not provided any compensation for this hopefully entertaining contribution. Any posts regarding any event or hotel item are just my humble opinions only.

Sid: You never did answer the follow up questions to your original post in this thread as to who was your source?

I do not think anyone posting in this tread had or has a problem with your posting your opinion on AA or any other airline or doesn't value your opinion. The problem is this part of your post:



You made an accusation that implied AA operates in an unsafe manner which obviously, if true, would be a cause of great concern to many here on CRT who for various reasons use AA for not only travel to San Jose but also for other travel in their business and personal lives.

If you had any experience in the airline industry dealing with flight dispatch, which I doubt, you would understand the situation you described while possible certainty is highly improbable and it would be highly unlikely that the information would be disseminated to an outsider.

What is disturbing is when asked repeatedly to document the source of your assertion that AA deliberately fails to fuel their aircraft with sufficient reserve fuel to make a simple go around at destination, which is a major violation of FAA rules, you did not respond.

In all fairness I urge you to provide the information on who told you the problem was lack of sufficient fuel and what your CRT pickup passenger told you what cabin announcements were made explaining the diversion. Perhaps the person on board the flight who you arranged to pickup will chime in here and provide a first person account.

Your continuing refusal to be more specific about this incident raises serious questions not only about the veracity of your information but also brings into question your motive. If you have hard information share it if you are spinning a yarn because of a dislike of AA or some other reason then shame on you.

_________________
Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine