Quote:
Originally Posted by curves2000
I posted this in the thread for the cup finals but thought I would ask the plane gurus here. It looks like the charter A320 for the Oilers (AC Jetz) had to do a fuel stop in Kansas City, Missouri enroute back to Edmonton.
This also happened last week when they arrived into Edmonton but the logic was that due to poor weather, they were not able to carry enough fuel for the non stop trip to Edmonton.
Given the approx range of an A320 being 6000+ km's and the distance between Florida and Edmonton approx 4000 km's, why the need to stop? Can a A320 really not make it non stop carrying 40-45 people plus gear?
https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/ACA7040
Thanks! |
Just ran some basic numbers. There's a lot of assumptions here however since I don't know what the configuration exactly is for the Jetz aircraft and it's payload. Below is some information based on current weather conditions, from FLL to YEG
Empty Weight 97,067 lbs
Max Weight Before Fuel 134,482 lbs
Max Take Off Weight 162,040 lbs
Max Landing Weight 142,198 lbs
Enroute Burn 30,124 lbs
Required Fuel 40,405 lbs (+ for taxi, contingency/reserve)
Estimated Weight Before Fuel 122,143 lbs
Estimated Take Off Weight 162,040 lbs
Estimated Landing Weight 131,916 lbs
Payload 25,076 lbs (passengers + baggage)
Now, assuming this NHL flight is taking maximum payload for all their gear (they probably bring extra's with the importance of being the SCF), then the limiting factor here will be their max take off weight of 162,040 lbs. With fuel requirement of 40,405 lbs, this means maximum weight before fuel (with payload) is 122,143 lbs (at the gate). This equates to the max payload for a direct flight of 25,076 lbs. However, the plane is capable of taking a max payload of 37,415 lbs. So if the team needs to carry more than 25,076 lbs, they have to reduce the fuel to be under the max take off weight, which means they won't have enough to get to Edmonton and hence the requirement for a fuel stop.
For the same trip from YEG to FLL, the fuel required is 33,923 lbs, which allows them to carry a payload of 31,558 lbs or an extra 6,482 lbs. This may have been enough for them to do a direct flight down. Right now the winds at cruise aren't much (average 20 kts), so this variance would typically be even larger, especially during winter months.
