Wind Stream, Part 2

Position: Abeam YZP (Sandspit)
Destination: Anchorage
Groundspeed: 362 mph (314 kts)
Winds aloft: on the nose at 155 mph (135 kts)

Over the neck of Idaho, my dispatcher sent me a message concerning turbulence over British Columbia along our flight planned route. He suggested a new route along the west coast of British Columbia. Instinctively, I knew this would happen before we left Las Vegas. It is the way of things up here.

So now we are in the headwinds. They are perfectly aligned with the Fi-Fi's nose cone. Not even one quarter of a degree off the center axis. Remember that extra taxi fuel I skillfully wrung out of the flight plan? Well, now we need it for unknown contingencies.

There was a time when the captain was allowed to burn into the landing reserve fuel and if it was not too egregious, then, as the old saying goes: No harm, no foul. The thinking back then was that reserve fuel was considered as... reserve. However, if the burn into the reserve was on the border of being idiotic, then a report to the Chief Pilot was filed with a probable butt chewing as the result. In these contemporary times when everyone knows more than the captain, burning into the landing reserve is considered an emergency and it is mandatory to treat it as such. Ridiculous, I say...

On the flip side, airline management does not want the aircraft to land with any extra fuel because it costs money to carry fuel weight. Hence the landing fuel targets that are all the rage nowadays at all the carriers.

We are going to miss that target if I do not come up with a solution to this headwind. According to the winds aloft forecast, the headwind component begins to rotate to the left of the nose in 200 miles. My instinct tells me that will be the case. Also, I think we need to track toward the eastern edge of the forecast wind stream and try to find lower wind velocities. This will add a few more miles but could easily create more fuel-in-tanks at the next check point. Changing altitude is not an option... Lower burns more fuel and higher is in the ozone no-fly altitudes for this time of the year.

Vancouver ATC cleared us to turn toward ICK radio beacon, about 20 degrees to the right. Fi-Fi did not like it. She had no wind speeds to chew on over there, so she thought we were going to be below our landing fuel target. Take it easy, Fi-Fi... It will be OK. Worst case scenario; we will have to land in IFR conditions at Juneau for more fuel. Not if I can help it, though. Our Anchorage ETA is already one hour behind scheduled arrival time, so a few more minutes will not matter in the big picture. The co-pilot suggested we give Fi-Fi a lower cost index for the nav computers to ponder upon. That is a really good idea. Too bad I did not think of it. The "cost index" is a $100 word for a $10 term, i.e., it is a ratio of the cost of time divided by the cost of fuel. In other words, a cost index of zero provides cruise speed and descent planning for maximum range. OK, enough of that...

I plugged in a big fat zero in the performance data which bumped up the landing fuel by 400 pounds. Next, I cleaned out all the flight plan wind data and put in wag winds. Our new and improved fuel on board at Anchorage is the minimum required by the airline. Things are looking better.

Top of descent

We found the eastern edge of the wind stream and were able to get out of the strong headwinds. The landing fuel is still at the minimum required. I reminded the co-pilot, who is flying this leg, that he needs to be very careful about energy planning on the approach. A go around will necessitate burning into the reserve fuel which is considered a no-no. Unlike the 737 days, we cannot massage the fuel figures with our #2 pencils. Fi-Fi automatically sends the fuel-on-board to Mother. Can't trust those rascally pilots, you know.

After clearing it with the co-pilot, I requested a short approach. Anchorage ATC vectored us to the runway outer marker and turned us loose. We saved about 25 miles of ground track. The co-pilot made a nice landing and turned her over to me at taxi speed. I told him to shut down number two engine for the trip to the gate.

The rampers plugged in the ground power; I got the green light on the overhead and shut down number one after 6 hours 35 minutes. We flew to the very end of the A319's fuel range; reserve fuel was literally waiting in the wings.

No admission of guilt paperwork for me tonight!