GM2 CAT.OP.MPA.180 Fuel/energy scheme — aeroplanes

INDIVIDUAL FUEL SCHEMES — BASELINE SAFETY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (SPIs) AND EQUIVALENT LEVEL OF SAFETY

(a) Establishing the baseline safety performance of a current fuel scheme involves collecting historical statistical data for the selected SPIs over a defined period of time, e.g. a minimum of 2 years. The safety performance of the operator’s processes is then measured against this baseline safety performance before and after implementation of the individual fuel scheme.

(b) Agreed SPIs should be commensurate with the complexity of the operational context, the extent of the deviations of the individual fuel scheme from the current fuel scheme, and the availability of resources to address those SPIs.

(c) The following is a non-exhaustive list of SPIs that are used to measure the baseline safety performance:

(1) flights with 100 % consumption of the contingency fuel;

(2) flights with a percentage consumption of the contingency fuel (e.g. 85 %), as agreed by the operator and the competent authority;

(3) difference between planned and actual trip fuel;

(4) landings with less than the final reserve fuel (FRF) remaining;

(5) flights landing with less than minutes of fuel remaining (e.g. 45 minutes), as agreed by the operator and the competent authority;

(6) ‘MINIMUM FUEL’ declarations;

(7) ‘MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY FUEL’ declarations;

(8) in-flight re-planning to the planned destination due to fuel shortage, including committing to land at the destination by cancelling the planned destination alternate;

(9) diversion to an en route alternate (ERA) aerodrome to protect the FRF;

(10) diversion to the destination alternate aerodrome; and

(11) any other indicator with the potential of demonstrating the suitability or unsuitability of the alternate aerodrome and fuel planning policy.

Note: Although the above-list includes quantitative SPIs, for certain non-data-based monitoring SPIs, alert and target levels may be qualitative in nature.

(d) Equivalent level of safety: SPIs and associated targets that are achieved after the introduction of an individual fuel scheme ‘should be equivalent to’ or ‘exceed’ the SPIs and associated targets that were used in the previously approved fuel scheme. To determine if such equivalence is achieved, the operator should carefully compare with one another the safety performance of operational activities before and after the application of the individual fuel scheme. For example, the operator should ensure that the average number of landings with less than the FRF does not increase after the introduction of the individual fuel scheme.

(e) The applicability of the individual fuel scheme may be limited to a specific aircraft fleet or type/variant of aircraft or area of operations. Different policies may be established as long as the procedures clearly specify the boundaries of each policy so that the flight crew is aware of the policy being applied: for example, the operator may wish to deviate from the basic 5 % contingency fuel policy only in certain areas of operations or only for a specific aircraft fleet or type/variant of aircraft. The safety performance of the fuel scheme may be measured according to the relevant area of operation or aircraft fleet or type/variant of aircraft so that any degradation of the safety performance can be isolated and mitigated separately. In that case, the approval for a deviation may be suspended for the affected area of operations and/or type/variant of aircraft until the required safety performance is achieved.

Note: ICAO Doc 9976 Flight Planning and Fuel Management (FPFM) Manual (1st Edition, 2015) and the EASA Fuel Manual provide further guidance.