Fuel conservation as a regional CPT

Blackhawk

Blackhawk

Well-Known Member
Just finished AQP. Something I heard several times from both a management rep and instructors. Majors are starting to track, by employee number, which regional captains are playing the fuel conservation game and which ones are going gate to gate with both engines and the APU operating the entire time. Left unsaid what they do with this information. Maybe true, maybe not. Want to risk you career?
 
So.... The regional airline management model is nothing more than a cut and paste job from the domestic abuse for dummies book?
" why do you make me hit you like this? "
:)
 
Yup, and at PSA, the LCA's and chiefs have a list of abusers for regularly over-blocking, those who don't single-engine taxi when possible, and "non-compliant" apu use (10 min after landing; 10 min prior to push)
 
ExpressJet dispatched, by a large margin, with way more extra fuel than their competitors. Looks like they should start there.
 
Ziggyfuzz said:
Yup, and at PSA, the LCA's and chiefs have a list of abusers for regularly over-blocking, those who don't single-engine taxi when possible, and "non-compliant" apu use (10 min after landing; 10 min prior to push)
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They used to show the MEC that list and say... these are the guys we could go after... but we aren't. Only tracked over block back then, but they were working on ways to track apu use and fuel burn.
 
At AWAC US Airways approached the company for this info. The company refused. Fast forward a year or two later and either the upper level guy quit or was replaced and gave it to Airways. Guys were sent to 'fuel school' on Airways dime.

Keep in mind what it was really about back then was over blocking. These guys were essentially stealing from the company and also screwing customers. We're not talking 5-10 mins of overbook, we're talking significant over blocking on every leg. It was well, well above the norm, and it was always the same guys, every month. It got to the point where privately, the MEC guys were actually for the 'scare tactics', because it gave the entire pilot group a bad name.

As for how much money is saved, it's a pittance. At AWAC and PSA on their -200's they dx with about 2100-2200 lbs of fuel remaining. At mainline, the Airbus fleet lands routinely with the equivalent of 3400# or so on the RJ, or around 50% more fuel.
 
Blackhawk said:
I don't. Not that hard to figure it out. They get the fuel numbers. Not hard to also get the employee number.
Still, I do find it funny when pilots do this, then complain that the dispatch doesn't give them enough fuel.
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You have apparently experienced a higher level of competency by XJT management than I experienced while I was there.
 
I'm not buying it.

However, it did take them nearly four years to tell us "Hi guys, thanks for doing this whole performance thing really well. However, we really need you to fly as close to block so that we can maximize our money income, nah mean? Yeah, sorry it's four years later and we coulda told you long ago to not do .81/.82/.83 everywhere you go. Honestly, if you meet D0 and you can make it right up to A14, that'd be swell. Leave a few minutes early too...but not TOO early, but every extra minute helps. Sorry, Not Sorry."

So, who knows. Maybe they're just now getting the message down to the messengers instead of being LEADERS instead of MANAGERS.

GMTFOOH.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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Soku39 said:
At PSA they absolutely track, by employee number, single engine taxi time as a percentage of the total out/off and on/in time.
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yeah same with the 3 regionals I was at BUT none of them used that info to determine any kind of hiring to the majors....shenanigans have been called
 
At TSA we have a couple short flights. IAD-MDT or IAD-PHL a lot of the captains and myself included just leave the apu on the whole time. Also we do 5 legs, doing nothing but those turns. So it's not uncommon for the apu to be running all day.

I've noticed that we plan 400lbs at the out stations and 800lbs at the hub for taxi. The 145 burns 400lbs per hour each engine on the ground. Luckily never had come close to the min fuel, except when in LGA.
 
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