DISPATCHERS REPORT AN OCEANIC FLT WEIGHT ERROR CAUSED AN INCREASED FUEL BURN AND CONSEQUENTLY THE FLT LANDED SHORT OF ITS DEST FOR REFUELING.
Synopsis
DISPATCHERS REPORT AN OCEANIC FLT WEIGHT ERROR CAUSED AN INCREASED FUEL BURN AND CONSEQUENTLY THE FLT LANDED SHORT OF ITS DEST FOR REFUELING.
Narrative
I PREPARED THE WT AND BAL FOR THE FLT. USING THE LIR AND THE PREVIOUS WT AND BAL; WE WERE TOLD ALL THE NUMBERS WERE CORRECT AND NOTHING HAD CHANGED; SO I USED THE NUMBERS FROM THE FIRST LEG. MY CALCULATIONS WERE CHKED AND FOUND TO BE CORRECT BY THE CAPT. AFTER THE FLT IT WAS DISCOVERED THAT THE INCORRECT NUMBERS FROM THE FIRST LEG'S PREVIOUS CREW HAD BEEN ENTERED REGARDING PAX WTS. ACFT WAS STILL WITHIN ALL LIMITATIONS AND ALL PHASES OF FLT. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 788935: DUE TO PAPERWORK ERROR ON THE LOAD MANIFEST; ACFT TOOK OFF WITH APPROX 4000 KGS MORE THAN TKOF WT ON MANIFEST. ACFT WAS OPERATED WELL WITHIN LIMITS AND AT NO TIME WAS SAFETY AN ISSUE. INCREASED WT RESULTED IN A STOP FOR FUEL AT ZZZ. BECAUSE FLT WAS ORIGINALLY PLANNED FOR A TECH STOP AT ZZZ; THE PROPOSED ORIGINAL ARR TIME AT ZZZ1 WAS LATER THAN OUR ACTUAL LNDG. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 788936: FLT WAS ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED FOR A FUEL STOP IN ZZZ. SOMETIME BEFORE FLT WAS PLANNED BY ANOTHER DISPATCHER; IT WAS DECIDED THAT DUE TO LIGHT PAYLOAD THE FUEL STOP WAS NO LONGER NECESSARY AND FLT WAS CHANGED TO OVERFLY ZZZ AND PROCEED DIRECTLY TO ZZZ1. WHILE FLT WAS XING; IT WAS GETTING BEHIND ON THE FUEL. FIRST POS RPT SHOWED -900 KGS; THEN ABOUT 100 KGS PER 10 DEGS OF LONGITUDE. AT RE-DISPATCH POINT; FLT ESTIMATED 6800 KGS OF FUEL INSTEAD OF 7475 KGS CALCULATED AS MINIMUM. FLT ACKNOWLEDGED RE-DISPATCH MESSAGE; THEN CALLED BACK IN ABOUT 15 MINS VIA PHONE PATCH ADVISING THAT THEIR FUEL OVER THE RE-DISPATCH POINT WOULD BE 6800 KGS. DISPATCH WAS UNABLE TO RE-CALCULATE A RE-DISPATCH FLT PLAN THAT WOULD SAFELY AND LEGALLY GET THE FLT INTO ZZZ1. ALERTING ZZZ OPS OF DIVERSION; ARRANGING FOR CUSTOMS. CHKING CURRENT WINDS ALOFT DATA FOR EACH FIX. CHKING WX ENRTE; DEST; PICK ALTERNATE ZZZ2 OK POSSIBLE WX AND ATC DELAYS. PREPARING FLT PLAN WITH 3000 KGS OF CONTINGENCY FUEL ADDED FOR DIVERSION RECOVERY FLT. FLT LANDED IN ZZZ1 WITH 12500 KGS OF FUEL. DIFFERENT THAN PLANNED XING ALT LIKELY PROVIDED STRONGER HEADWINDS DUE TO THE JET STREAM. WINDS ALOFT WERE NOT ACCURATE WITH THAT OF FLT PLANNING'S SYS. PAYLOAD DISCREPANCY; WHICH COULD HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED BY CONFIRMING THE PAX COUNT. 120 PAX COUNT IN NO WAY COULD WEIGH 5459 KGS. STILL ZERO FUEL WT RPTED BY CREW ON PREVIOUS LEG AND THIS LEG WAS CONSISTENT 66000 KGS. 66000 KGS OUT OF ZZZ THE RPTED ZERO FUEL WT BY CREW WAS 6600 KGS. ACCURATE PAX/BAGS WT CALCULATION; EXERCISING CAUTION WHEN SUGGESTING TO OVERFLY AN ORIGINALLY PLANNED FUEL STOP.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.