Fuel requirements for alternate airports
Tillaga í öryggisátt
SIA-Iceland recommends to Icetra to review the need to issue a guidance or instructions to operators on Icelandic AOC regarding fuel requirement to alternate airports in Iceland, in case of flight planned for the closing hours of BIRK, BIAR and BIEG, considering the time required to open these airports.
Afgreiðsla
On 16.10.2024 Icetra issued the following action plan regarding the safety recommendation:
In response to RNSA (SIA Iceland) final report dated 07.12.2023 on aircraft serious incident report dated 7.12.2023 ICETRA has reviewed safety recommendation 19-159F044 T6 which was directed at ICETRA or;
SIA-Iceland recommends to Icetra to review the need to issue a guidance or instructions to operators on Icelandic AOC regarding fuel requirement to alternate airports in Iceland, in case of flight planned for the closing hours of BIRK, BIAR and BIEG, considering the time required to open these airports.
In retrospect
From the time of the incident to present day fuel planning matters have evolved considerably with the implementation of regulatory requirements put forward in EASA CAT.OP.MPA.180-185. All Icelandic operators using large transport airplanes now operate in accordance with subchapter‚ Basic Fuel Scheme with variations which places much higher demands on flight planning with regards to e.g. fuel carried, selection of alternate aerodromes and fuel en-route alternates than before.
Present state
ICETRA conducts numerous audits every year on all operators on different subjects, including ‚Release to flight / Dispatch. Time interval between audits of same kind is 24 months maximum. All in all, the results are satisfactory or good with mostly low-level findings. ICETRA requires and promotes high discipline and compliance with the regulation, especially in view of less fuel that is possible to carry for each flight than ever before, given all precautionary guidelines are followed.
Action plan
In response to RNSA safety recommendation ICETRA has decided to probe further into flight planning matters with operators by pursuing an on-site inspection at each operator´s flight dispatch unit in OCC (Operator Control Centre). This inspection can and should reveal any weaknesses in the operator flight dispatch, including methodology, use of flight planning software, skills, communication with flight crews and sharing of duties and responsibilities.