EMB ERJ 140 ER/LR
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Workload; Communication Breakdown; Situational Awareness
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue
Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification
Procedure; Company Policy; Weather
We were asked to reposition an aircraft. There were many events leading up to a Minimum Fuel Emergency. My original First Officer (FO) called off sick. After a second FO was assigned to the trip we needed to make our way from the terminal to the maintenance hangar. When we arrived at the hangar the aircraft was not ready to fly. During the preflight we found multiple discrepancies. Cracked taxi lights; zero fuel in the left tank; 500 LBS fuel in the right tank. Our oxygen bottle had 130 PSI. The plane was covered with snow and ice. Our original flight plan called for release fuel 7200 with min takeoff fuel 6700. That would allow us 2100 planned arrival fuel. The above discrepancies and the late arrival of fuel put us three hours behind schedule. During this period of time dispatch did an amendment to the release; but failed to inform us of the change. We deiced the plane and departed with 6800 LBS fuel on board. We were calculating fuel throughout the flight. Over our midpoint we calculated we would have enough fuel to land in our destination. To ensure we did not encounter any delays to the airport we [advised low fuel] with Center. However; Center did not pass on to Approach our [situation]. They only informed Approach control we were minimum fuel. There was a military C130 in the pattern. We were given a vector for traffic which we denied and again informed Approach control of [our fuel situation]. At that time the aircraft was vectored away from the runway. We landed with approximately 650 LBS per side. The aircraft was undamaged and no crew members were hurt.Amended release with an increased fuel load was not communicated to the crew. We need better communication between dispatch and aircrew.
Dispatch did not inform an EMB-145 crew about decreased fuel requirement during an extended preflight and the crew had to advise low fuel with ATC because total landing fuel was about 1;300 LBS.