Narrative:

Received flight plan at hnl and began my normal review. I noted there was an etp and I checked the weather for the listed etp airports. We discussed that the fuel was abnormally low (in general); but legal. The ramp personnel noted that it was between 15-20;000 pounds less than normal. Again; we checked the weather for our destination and alternates and everything checked out. Due to turbulence/weather inbound to hnl the day prior; the captain and I discussed the need for additional fuel. He coordinated with the dispatcher to add 4;000 pounds. Once we had leveled off at FL390; we began the class ii nav checklist and started preparing for coast out. It was at this point that we plotted the etp and noticed it was already behind us. That is when we noticed that the etp alternates were hnl and hto; which made no sense. At this point we immediately queried the dispatcher via ACARS and then satcom. He said he was working on the numbers and while we weren't 'technically illegal' he would have to adjust the etp alternates. Approximately 30 minutes passed while we waited. We queried him again and he told us we did not have sufficient fuel to meet the etp requirements and that he had no choice; but to send us back to hnl to get more fuel. We coordinated with ATC via cpdlc and received our routing back to hnl. The return flight/landing was uneventful. In hindsight; there was the fuel issue that seemed odd to everyone (captain; myself; ramp office). Even though I checked the etp alternates weather; I didn't notice that the airports listed didn't make sense; even though the weather forecasts were good. When the captain coordinated with the dispatcher; he again didn't notice the issue. In the future; I am going to pay more attention to the details of the etp airports and also plot the etp before going to the airplane to make sure it's location makes sense along our route; instead of waiting until level off.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: MD11 flight crew; enroute on a flight from Hawaii to the main land; discovered that inappropriate alternates and the associated ETP have been chosen by the Dispatcher. Insufficient fuel is aboard to comply with a correctly chosen ETP and the flight returns to take on more fuel.

Narrative: Received flight plan at HNL and began my normal review. I noted there was an ETP and I checked the weather for the listed ETP airports. We discussed that the fuel was abnormally low (in general); but legal. The ramp personnel noted that it was between 15-20;000 LBS less than normal. Again; we checked the weather for our destination and alternates and everything checked out. Due to turbulence/weather inbound to HNL the day prior; the Captain and I discussed the need for additional fuel. He coordinated with the dispatcher to add 4;000 LBS. Once we had leveled off at FL390; we began the Class II Nav checklist and started preparing for coast out. It was at this point that we plotted the ETP and noticed it was already behind us. That is when we noticed that the ETP alternates were HNL and HTO; which made no sense. At this point we immediately queried the Dispatcher via ACARS and then SATCOM. He said he was working on the numbers and while we weren't 'technically illegal' he would have to adjust the ETP alternates. Approximately 30 minutes passed while we waited. We queried him again and he told us we did not have sufficient fuel to meet the ETP requirements and that he had no choice; but to send us back to HNL to get more fuel. We coordinated with ATC via CPDLC and received our routing back to HNL. The return flight/landing was uneventful. In hindsight; there was the fuel issue that seemed odd to everyone (Captain; myself; Ramp Office). Even though I checked the ETP alternates weather; I didn't notice that the airports listed didn't make sense; even though the weather forecasts were good. When the Captain coordinated with the Dispatcher; he again didn't notice the issue. In the future; I am going to pay more attention to the details of the ETP airports and also plot the ETP before going to the airplane to make sure it's location makes sense along our route; instead of waiting until level off.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.