Less spare fuel can mean 'nightmare' flight

— -- Rich Szulewski was in an airplane circling above Memphis International Airport late on April 10 when the captain delivered annoying news: The plane was running low on fuel and had to land in Little Rock to get more before going to Memphis.

By the time the plane got to Little Rock, the pilots had spent so much time flying that flight rules barred them from continuing until the morning. Szulewski had been through enough. He rented a car, drove two hours to Memphis and got home at 3:30 a.m.

"It was a nightmare," Szulewski said.

Hundreds of thousands of passengers a year endure late arrivals, missed connections and hours of waiting when their flights are diverted to another airport.

Many factors cause diversions. Bad weather prevents landing at a destination. Mechanical problems force pilots to a nearby airport. And planes running low on fuel cannot circle above an airport waiting for weather to pass or congestion to clear.

The Federal Aviation Administration does not track the reasons for diversions. The number of diversions is small — 17,000 last year out of 7.4 million flights — but the rate has increased each year since 2002, when they were at an all-time low, according to Transportation Department figures.

Some pilots say they are making many fuel stops.

In a December report filed with NASA, an airline captain said he had diverted several flights in recent months because his plane was not given enough fuel to withstand delays. The captain, whose name and airline are not disclosed in the report, blamed the December diversion on "unrealistic fueling policy of my (airline). It is not consistent with the realities of the perpetually congested airspace system."

"Decisions and policies on aircraft fuel loads," the captain added, "are based on the economics of the industry, not the realities of the antiquated (air-traffic control) system that demands more fuel as a result of the airspace saturation causing extensive holds."

Diverting to refuel can unnerve passengers such as Melanie Marken, whose Pittsburgh-to-Denver flight in June was forced to stop in Cheyenne, Wyo. "It's a little disconcerting to hear the pilot say we don't have enough fuel to be in a holding pattern," Marken said.