BA flies 747 on 3 engines LAX-UK - New EU comp rules

"Dave C." wrote:
OK, tell ya what. We'll put you in the captain's chair of a 747 at 29,000
feet out over the middle of the Atlantic Ocean somewhere and make sure that
you run out of fuel. I'll bet you'll have a real warm fuzzy feeling then
knowing that your plane can glide for several minutes. -Dave


In the case of the Air Transat plane, one tank emptied itself fully
within 15 minutes, so they decided to cross feed from the other tank and
while doing so, didn't check the gauges and were then surprised to find
the other tank was now also empty within 15 minutes (the pumps were
essentially dumping the fuel overboard). The crew made many mistakes
including cross feeding, and not monitoring fuel once cross feed was opened.

In the case of this British Airways flight, fuel tank depletion would
have been at a steady continuous rate, and proper monitoring would
reveal how much further they can go before they are too low on fuel. If
they were 100% sure of making it to Ireland, 80% sure to Manchester and
60% sure to London, then they could proceed to Ireland over the atlantic
without issue, and there, re-evaluate fuel situation and decide if there
is enough to go to Manchester or London.

Furthermore, from LA to the Atlantic, the crew would have seen how the
plane performs and if anything else broke, and this would have given
them a good idea that the plane could go on for a few more hours. The
crossing of atalantic at northern latitude woudl have been much shorter
than going from lax to the shores of atlantic.