Fuel on board

[pathalogical]

When listening to oceanic flights, pilots give a fuel on board number, such as, 26.2. What unit of measure are they using ? A search result on Wiki says it's in Hours...but more than a days worth sounds like way to much for a flight from, say New York to Europe. If it's other than hours, what are they using ?

 

[kayn1n32008]

When listening to oceanic flights, pilots give a fuel on board number, such as, 26.2. What unit of measure are they using ? A search result on Wiki says it's in Hours...but more than a days worth sounds like way to much for a flight from, say New York to Europe. If it's other than hours, what are they using ?

Thousands of pounds? IE: 26200 lbs? Aircraft donot use volume but mass. that would be my guess

 

[russellmaher]

Thousands of pounds? IE: 26200 lbs? Aircraft donot use volume but mass. that would be my guess

You would be guessing correctly! When I load Jet A into an aircraft, it's pumped from the refueling truck by the gallon, but converted to pounds when loaded aboard the plane since the primary concerns on aircraft is weight and balance.

So, when the pilot says the fuel on board is 26.2 he is saying 26,200 lbs., and since he knows the burn rate of his airplane, he can calculate the number of hours of flight time he has with that amount of fuel.

I hope that helps..

Russell