EMB ERJ 145 ER/LR
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Total 31000
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue
General None Reported / Taken
Company Policy; Procedure; Weather
Original release was for no alternate and 4800 lbs. of fuel. The temperature and dew point spread at our destination was 0 (14/14). Since the airport is next to a river; I requested an alternate due to the temperature and dew point spread even though the forecast was for VFR conditions. I have seen airports fog many times in the past with similar conditions even though the forecast is for VFR. I called Dispatch and requested an alternate; which he issued.Some areas for concern then became apparent. When we were discussing what airport would be acceptable; he said that he had to check which stations would have personnel available in case we had to divert. Dispatch doesn't seem to be analyzing weather as thoroughly as they should; especially with the very limited amount of VFR fuel we are being dispatched with. Un-forecasted fog is not uncommon this time of year; and should be taken into consideration; especially when a lot of airports we serve are near large bodies of water. The phone call to Dispatch took 3 minutes. Using the ACARS system to communicate takes considerably more time. Had we had to handle the situation while airborne; we would have used a good chunk of our reserve fuel; putting us into a possible emergency fuel situation. The company reasoning for not carrying a lot of fuel seems to be that 'it takes fuel to carry fuel'. The increase in fuel to add the alternate was about 1800 lbs. The increase in fuel consumption was 20 lbs. So our fuel burn went up .006%. Let's at least be honest that the increase in fuel burn is negligible at best.Allowing the accounting department to make operational decisions doesn't end well for anyone. The first thing to go is customer service; but the second things to go are safety margins. This is increasing stress during the flight because we have to be constantly evaluating fuel consumption. Using averages for fuel planning might seem like a good idea; up to the point when you burn more than the average. By definition; we will burn more than planned fuel on half of our flights. On this flight the planned fuel burn was 1929 lbs. We actually burned 2610 lbs. on a flight that stayed VFR; but due to arrival traffic we flew the whole arrival procedure; plus some delaying vectors. This amounts to burning 600 lbs. extra; which is almost all of the VFR reserve the company's accounting department allows. Had we needed to go around; we would have been declaring an emergency. Because we had IFR reserves and an alternate; we were ok; but it still was marginal. [I] suggest increasing the VFR flight planning reserves; at least to the IFR plan levels. If temperature and dew point spreads are close; consider filing alternates even though the forecast is good. The temperature and dew point spread when we landed was 1 degree (15 and 14). It may save someone from a bad experience down the road.
An Embraer Captain suggests an increase in the reserve fuel policy and to consider alternate fields based on dew point and temperature difference.