Large Transport; Low Wing; 2 Turbojet Eng
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 232; Flight Crew Type 9600
Communication Breakdown; Confusion; Training / Qualification; Workload
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
General None Reported / Taken
Airport; Company Policy; Weather
We showed up to an aircraft going into MDW; with a current and forecast wet runway (BR); with 20.4 thousand pounds of tanker fuel already loaded on the aircraft. The METAR and TAF were calling for mist until 1.5 hours after scheduled land time. The FOM says we can't tanker with forecast runway conditions less than good. Wet-good is less than good. Therefore I considered this illegal. The Dispatcher put me on hold for six minutes to call the MDW Tower. He announced that the Tower was calling a dry runway at that moment and I was 'legal'. I called the Chief Pilot on Call and discussed the situation. Before we took off; our landing data showed a stopping margin of 140 feet and our actual stopping margin with MAX braking was only 40 feet! Although it was 'legal'; it was pushing the boundaries of being 'SAFE'. I was told that a total mishap would cost the company 2.5 billion dollars; yet Dispatch has no trouble pushing Aircrew right up to the edge of performance limits to save a few dollars. This dumps all the responsibility on the Captains; and the Dispatcher is bullet proof: 'legal'. We attend required training that emphasizes risk management and mitigation; yet our Dispatcher has no trouble pushing us right up to the safety LIMITS and exposing us to unnecessary risks. I'm writing this report because I think Dispatch was illegal to tanker fuel with the current and forecast weather reports indicating a wet runway. They increased our operational risk and pushed me into the corner as to whether I was going to even take the aircraft. I spent a lot of time on the phone with two calls to Dispatch and one to the Chief Pilot on Call; and we pushed late because of it. Moreover; it was on our minds while operating the flight; a very unnecessary distraction.Common sense would have gone a long way here. It is one thing to sit behind a desk and think of the world with a black and white perspective; legal versus illegal. It is another thing to actually have to fly the aircraft full of people counting on you to keep it out of the dirt. If the FOM says not to tanker fuel; we shouldn't do it. It is a safety issue. If the runway forecast is dry; the Dispatchers should back off the performance limit a bit and give the Pilots additional breathing room because flying is fluid in nature. The assumption that all conditional will be perfect is naïve.
An air carrier Captain questioned tankering fuel into MDW and landing on a wet runway with very little stopping margin.