← Back to context

Comment by jacquesm

4 days ago

> They had 6 more minutes to do that touch and go around if that happened

6 minutes is way out of the comfort zone. They might not have made it in that case.

17 comments

jacquesm

Reply
scrumper  4 days ago

Correct, article says they landed with 220kg which is around 6 minutes of average fuel burn over an entire flight - bit less at cruise, a hell of a lot more at takeoff/climb.

So I don't think 220kg is enough to do a go-around in a 737 (well, a go-around would've been initiated with a bit more than 220kg in the tank - they burned some taxing to the gate - but you get my point.) I've read around 2,300kg for takeoff and climb on a normal flight in a 737-8. A go-around is going to use close to that, it's a full power takeoff but a much shorter climb phase up to whatever procedure is set for the airport and then what ATC tells you.

I just flew 172s but even with those little things we were told, your reserve is never to be used.

These people came very, very close to a disaster. Fortunately they had as much luck left as they did fuel.

bluGill  4 days ago

I agree, well out of comfort zones. However to my reading multiple different things went wrong to get to this point.

  • jacquesm  4 days ago

    That could be. We just don't know right now, but your intuition may well be correct, even if there is a single root cause there could very well be multiple contributory causes.