An EMB145 crew declared minimum fuel while be vectored and approaching their destination. After landing a TRACON Controller stated that crews flying this flight frequently declare minimum fuel so the flight should carry more fuel.
Synopsis
An EMB145 crew declared minimum fuel while be vectored and approaching their destination. After landing a TRACON Controller stated that crews flying this flight frequently declare minimum fuel so the flight should carry more fuel.
Narrative
This was a flight to MKE. Weather was not requiring an alternate and we had the required fuel to make the flight. According to weather forecast and current weather we were adequately fueled. We departed and were almost immediately given vectors due to traffic going into MKE. We began to query ATC about how long we could be expecting vectors and what our place in line was to get into MKE. After being vectored for a short time after the first query we let approach know that we would be declaring 'Min Fuel' very soon. I believe that we told ATC one more time that we were close to declaring min fuel and at that time were given vectors to join the Localizer. At that point we were told to expect a number to call ATC from Ground Control in MKE. When I was parked at the gate I called Milwaukee TRACON and was told by the Supervisor/Controller that this is a re-occurring issue with this flight that they are under fueled and this same problem has happened many times before. Once again; based on the weather and information in the release we were adequately fueled and actually had excess tanker and holding fuel (approximately 800 LBS worth). Research planning tools and dispatch procedures/planning for this city pairing to make sure that aircraft are adequately fueled.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.