239
Federal Aviation Administration, DOT
§ 121.646
(3) After that, to fly to and land at
the most distant alternate airport
specified in the flight release, if an al-
ternate is required; and
(4) After that, to fly for 30 minutes at
holding speed at 1,500 feet above the al-
ternate airport (or the destination air-
port if no alternate is required) under
standard temperature conditions.
(c) No person may release a turbine-
engine powered airplane (other than a
turbo-propeller airplane) to an airport
for which an alternate is not specified
under § 121.621(a)(2) or § 121.623(b) unless
it has enough fuel, considering wind
and other weather conditions expected,
to fly to that airport and thereafter to
fly for at least two hours at normal
cruising fuel consumption.
(d) The Administrator may amend
the operations specifications of a cer-
tificate holder conducting flag or sup-
plemental operations to require more
fuel than any of the minimums stated
in paragraph (a) or (b) of this section if
he finds that additional fuel is nec-
essary on a particular route in the in-
terest of safety.
(e) For a supplemental operation
within the 48 contiguous States and
the District of Columbia with a turbine
engine powered airplane the fuel re-
quirements of § 121.643 apply.
[Doc. No. 6258, 29 FR 19222, Dec. 31, 1964, as
amended by Amdt. 121–10, 30 FR 10025, Aug.
12, 1965; Amdt. 121–144, 43 FR 22649, May 25,
1978; Amdt. 121–253, 61 FR 2615, Jan. 26, 1996]
§ 121.646 En-route fuel supply: flag and
supplemental operations.
(a) No person may dispatch or release
for flight a turbine-engine powered air-
plane with more than two engines for a
flight more than 90 minutes (with all
engines operating at cruise power)
from an Adequate Airport unless the
following fuel supply requirements are
met:
(1) The airplane has enough fuel to
meet the requirements of § 121.645(b);
(2) The airplane has enough fuel to
fly to the Adequate Airport—
(i) Assuming a rapid decompression
at the most critical point;
(ii) Assuming a descent to a safe alti-
tude in compliance with the oxygen
supply requirements of § 121.333; and
(iii) Considering expected wind and
other weather conditions.
(3) The airplane has enough fuel to
hold for 15 minutes at 1500 feet above
field elevation and conduct a normal
approach and landing.
(b) No person may dispatch or release
for flight an ETOPS flight unless, con-
sidering wind and other weather condi-
tions expected, it has the fuel other-
wise required by this part and enough
fuel to satisfy each of the following re-
quirements:
(1) Fuel to fly to an ETOPS Alternate
Airport.
(i) Fuel to account for rapid decom-
pression and engine failure. The air-
plane must carry the greater of the fol-
lowing amounts of fuel:
(A) Fuel sufficient to fly to an
ETOPS Alternate Airport assuming a
rapid decompression at the most crit-
ical point followed by descent to a safe
altitude in compliance with the oxygen
supply requirements of § 121.333 of this
chapter;
(B) Fuel sufficient to fly to an
ETOPS Alternate Airport (at the one-
engine-inoperative cruise speed) as-
suming a rapid decompression and a si-
multaneous engine failure at the most
critical point followed by descent to a
safe altitude in compliance with the
oxygen requirements of § 121.333 of this
chapter; or
(C) Fuel sufficient to fly to an
ETOPS Alternate Airport (at the one
engine inoperative cruise speed) assum-
ing an engine failure at the most crit-
ical point followed by descent to the
one engine inoperative cruise altitude.
(ii) Fuel to account for errors in wind
forecasting. In calculating the amount
of fuel required by paragraph (b)(1)(i) of
this section, the certificate holder
must increase the actual forecast wind
speed by 5% (resulting in an increase in
headwind or a decrease in tailwind) to
account for any potential errors in
wind forecasting. If a certificate holder
is not using the actual forecast wind
based on a wind model accepted by the
FAA, the airplane must carry addi-
tional fuel equal to 5% of the fuel re-
quired for paragraph (b)(1)(i) of this
section, as reserve fuel to allow for er-
rors in wind data.
(iii) Fuel to account for icing. In cal-
culating the amount of fuel required by
paragraph (b)(1)(i) of this section (after
completing the wind calculation in
240
14 CFR Ch. I (1–1–24 Edition)
§ 121.647
paragraph (b)(1)(ii) of this section), the
certificate holder must ensure that the
airplane carries the greater of the fol-
lowing amounts of fuel in anticipation
of possible icing during the diversion:
(A) Fuel that would be burned as a
result of airframe icing during 10 per-
cent of the time icing is forecast (in-
cluding the fuel used by engine and
wing anti-ice during this period).
(B) Fuel that would be used for en-
gine anti-ice, and if appropriate wing
anti-ice, for the entire time during
which icing is forecast.
(iv) Fuel to account for engine dete-
rioration. In calculating the amount of
fuel required by paragraph (b)(1)(i) of
this section (after completing the wind
calculation in paragraph (b)(1)(ii) of
this section), the airplane also carries
fuel equal to 5% of the fuel specified
above, to account for deterioration in
cruise fuel burn performance unless the
certificate holder has a program to
monitor airplane in-service deteriora-
tion to cruise fuel burn performance.
(2) Fuel to account for holding, ap-
proach, and landing. In addition to the
fuel required by paragraph (b)(1) of this
section, the airplane must carry fuel
sufficient to hold at 1500 feet above
field elevation for 15 minutes upon
reaching an ETOPS Alternate Airport
and then conduct an instrument ap-
proach and land.
(3) Fuel to account for APU use. If an
APU is a required power source, the
certificate holder must account for its
fuel consumption during the appro-
priate phases of flight.
[Doc. No. FAA–2002–6717, 72 FR 1882, Jan. 16,
2007, as amended by Amdt. 121–348, 75 FR
12121, Mar. 15, 2010]
§ 121.647 Factors for computing fuel
required.
Each person computing fuel required
for the purposes of this subpart shall
consider the following:
(a) Wind and other weather condi-
tions forecast.
(b) Anticipated traffic delays.
(c) One instrument approach and pos-
sible missed approach at destination.
(d) Any other conditions that may
delay landing of the aircraft.
For the purposes of this section, re-
quired fuel is in addition to unusable
fuel.
§ 121.649 Takeoff and landing weather
minimums: VFR: Domestic oper-
ations.
(a) Except as provided in paragraph
(b) of this section, regardless of any
clearance from ATC, no pilot may
takeoff or land an airplane under VFR
when the reported ceiling or visibility
is less than the following:
(1) For day operations—1,000-foot
ceiling and one-mile visibility.
(2) For night operations—1,000-foot
ceiling and two-mile visibility.
(b) Where a local surface restriction
to visibility exists (e.g., smoke, dust,
blowing snow or sand) the visibility for
day and night operations may be re-
duced to
1
⁄
2
mile, if all turns after take-
off and prior to landing, and all flight
beyond one mile from the airport
boundary can be accomplished above or
outside the area of local surface visi-
bility restriction.
(c) The weather minimums in this
section do not apply to the VFR oper-
ation of fixed-wing aircraft at any of
the locations where the special weather
minimums of § 91.157 of this chapter are
not applicable (See part 91, appendix D,
section 3 of this chapter). The basic
VFR weather minimums of § 91.155 of
this chapter apply at those locations.
[Doc. No. 6258, 29 FR 19222, Dec. 31, 1964, as
amended by Amdt. 121–39, 33 FR 4097, Mar. 2,
1968; Amdt. 121–206, 54 FR 34331, Aug. 18, 1989;
Amdt. 121–226, 56 FR 65663, Dec. 17, 1991]
§ 121.651 Takeoff and landing weather
minimums: IFR: All certificate hold-
ers.
(a) Notwithstanding any clearance
from ATC, no pilot may begin a takeoff
in an airplane under IFR when the
weather conditions reported by the
U.S. National Weather Service, a
source approved by that Service, or a
source approved by the Administrator,
are less than those specified in—
(1) The certificate holder’s operations
specifications; or
(2) Parts 91 and 97 of this chapter, if
the certificate holder’s operations
specifications do not specify takeoff
minimums for the airport.
(b) Except as provided in paragraphs
(d) and (e) of this section, no pilot may
continue an approach past the final ap-
proach fix, or where a final approach
fix is not used, begin the final approach