FA20 EXPERIENCED LOW FUEL DURING APCH TO ATL.

Date: 2003-11 · Aircraft: Falcon 20FJF/20C/20D/20E/20F

Anomalies: deviation-discrepancy-procedural-clearance|other-fuel-problem

Synopsis

FA20 EXPERIENCED LOW FUEL DURING APCH TO ATL.

Narrative

WHILE ON AN IFR FLT PLAN FROM TNCM (ST MAARTEN) TO ATL THE FOLLOWING INCIDENT OCCURRED. AT ABOUT XA40 WE WERE APCHING THE SINCA INTXN ON THE SINCA 3 ARR AND ASSIGNED HOLDING INSTRUCTIONS TO HOLD AT SINCA WITH AN EFC OF XB00. JUST PRIOR TO XB00 WE RECEIVED VECTORS TO THE ILS TO RWY 8L. AT THAT TIME WE HAD ABOUT 1800 LBS OF FUEL REMAINING. WE ADVISED THE APCH CTLR THAT DUE TO LOW FUEL RESERVES THAT WE COULD ACCEPT NO FURTHER DELAYS ON THE APCH. HE ADVISED THAT WE COULD EXPECT VECTORS TO INTERCEPT THE LOC ON A 21 MI FINAL. WE WERE SWITCHED TO ANOTHER APCH FREQ AND WE AGAIN ADVISED THE NEW CTLR THAT WE COULD NOT ACCEPT ANY DELAYS DUE TO LOW FUEL RESERVES. HE ACKNOWLEDGED IN THE AFFIRMATIVE. WE CONTINUED THE APCH AND RECEIVED A FREQ CHANGE TO THE ATL TWR CTLR NEAR THE OM TO RWY 8L. AT THAT TIME WE HAD ABOUT 1400 LBS OF FUEL REMAINING. NEXT THE TWR CTLR SAID WE WERE TOO CLOSE TO THE ACFT AHEAD AND TO TURN L TO HEADING 360 DEGS FOR VECTORS TO ANOTHER APCH. WE TOLD HIM WE WERE UNABLE DUE TO LOW FUEL RESERVES. HE ALLOWED US TO CONTINUE AND LAND AND VECTORED THE ACFT AHEAD OF US TO GO AROUND. WE LANDED WITH SAFE FUEL RESERVES. THE TWR CTLR ADVISED ME TO CALL THE APCH SUPVR TO DISCUSS THIS INCIDENT. I CALLED THE APCH SUPVR TO EXPLAIN MY ACTIONS. HE ADVISED ME THAT TO RESPOND TO THE CTLR THAT WE WERE UNABLE TO GO AROUND WAS 'NOT AN OPTION' AND THAT WE SHOULD HAVE DECLARED AN EMER IN THE BEGINNING OF THE APCH. I APOLOGIZED FOR CAUSING HIM A PROB. I NEVER THOUGHT WE HAD AN EMER TO DECLARE SO LONG AS WE DID NOT RECEIVE ANY FURTHER DELAYS. HAD I ACCEPTED THE COMMAND TO GO AROUND; WE WOULD THEN BE FORCED INTO A LOW FUEL CONDITION AND BE LEFT WITH FEW OR NO OPTIONS BUT TO LAND ON THE SECOND APCH REGARDLESS OF THE RWY CONDITION.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.