NEW RELEASE SYSTEM:

ALL PILOTS:

In order to get us "Back in the Air", Mike has developed a "Generic" Release for each flight in the schedule. Really, there are only a few differences from the Releases we have been using, but they ARE significant.

First though, some VERY important items. It has become YOUR responsibility to check both the Weather and the Winds Aloft for each flight you make. The flightplan has the correct routes, but can NOT predict the weather or winds.

Weather has 2 critical components. The first is Destination Weather, which will tell you if you need an Alternate or not. You will note the "New" Release has FOUR Alternates listed, each with a distance, fuel burn and transit time.

Remember the "1-2-3 Rule"

You will be required to list an alternate IF:

1 hour before to 1 hour after ETA the forecast ceiling is 2000 feet or lower (ceiling is defined as lowest layer reported as broken or overcast)

OR..

Forecast visibility is 3SM miles or less.

Secondly, you must establish WHICH Alternate to use, which is the second critical element. And, just to make it interesting, you need to watch the Weather at your Departure Airport, in case you need to return because something fell off the Airplane. General rule of thumb is use the closest alterate that you can to conserve fuel but still have a solid place to divert if needed.

Also, you will see there are 3 different hold fuel amounts. Each release will have 15 minutes hold fuel planned as "standard". You can almost BET that if the Wx goes South on you, you will have a Hold, so anticipate that.

Winds aLoft speak for themselves. As you know, the PREDOMINANT wind flow is West to East, but you MUST be sure. The surprise when the gas and length of flight don't match can really mess up your whole day.
Burn and Time speaks for itself. Winds and weather are factors as well, and it all goes to How Much Gas do I Need???? Same with Hold Fuel, No bad weather, or anticipated traffic delays don't carry the extra fuel.

Routing is the same as before, and I MUST stress as hard as I can it is IMPERATIVE you look at both the SID and STAR for the flight. Get familiar with My Airplane or AIRNAV so you can look at the procedures and modify the FMC as necessary.

Aside from that, this new System should get us back in the air and making money for Jeff.

Russ Spalding
Chief Pilot MCA

Excellent write up Russ... Thank you!!

Jeff

Well put Russ! Be different, needing to do our homework first!