Q400
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness; Communication Breakdown
Other Unwanted Situation
Human Factors; Procedure; Company Policy
Due to our company's recently expanded pre-fueling program; I have flown three flights where we arrived at our destination and had to delay landing due to an overweight condition.This was caused by a combination of things: 1. Fueling decisions are based on historical loads (bags and cargo); not actual. In two of the instances; the bag count that was listed for planning was not even close to what was actually loaded. 2. Inadequate flight planning for winds aloft. In all cases; we experienced a tailwind that was significantly higher than what was listed in our flight paperwork (e.g. 49 KTS versus 31 KTS). We did not change altitude or routing from what was filed. The routes in question are mostly a direct route and taking a direct clearance results in a change of less than 5 miles over the entire route. In all cases we were under our MFPTW; METW; and MTOW by significant margins; yet we ended up at the destination in an overweight condition (300 - 500 LBS) for landing. This same issue occurred on additional flights the previous week. My concern is that the crew; using the numbers on the release; will not be aware of the landing weight issue or; discover it late in the flight and cause problems for ATC and other aircraft as they try to burn fuel at a higher rate by slowing down or configuring for landing very early. Also; the company has taken the fuel planning away from the crew and is using inadequate data to come up with fuel loads. As this has only occurred one other time in my career prior to fuel planning responsibility being removed from the Captain; I believe that our pre-fueling program needs to be re-evaluated and brought into the real world. With our passenger loads at record highs already; I think arriving at our destination overweight will only become a more frequent issue and pose additional unnecessary risk to crews and passengers.
A Q400 Captain expressed concern about his airline's newly expanded policy of determining fuel required on an historical basis vice a flight by flight analysis by the Captain; First Officer and Dispatcher.