<< >> NASA ASRS Report 1119269, September 2013

A B747-400 captain felt compelled to declare a fuel emergency in order to get priority handling when he deemed ATC holding to be excessive.

Attributes
ACN	1119269
Time
Date	201309
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	FO
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B747-400
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	STAR ZZZZZ
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 150 Flight Crew Total 22000 Flight Crew Type 1800
Person 2
Function	Other / Unknown
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue

Narrative:

We were given hold along with an efc. After calculations and considerations of weather and traffic flow; I declared minimum fuel. Controller advised expect landing in 30 minutes (or later). I offered to hold for 10 minutes. Controller said unable. I declared minimum fuel again. Controller advised that we must declare a fuel emergency to get priority. On entering hold I again offered to hold for 10 minutes. Controller advised we must declare a fuel emergency; which I did. Approach and landing were uneventful with approximately 33;000 fuel remaining.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B747-400 Captain felt compelled to declare a fuel emergency in order to get priority handling when he deemed ATC holding to be excessive.

Narrative: We were given hold along with an EFC. After calculations and considerations of weather and traffic flow; I declared minimum fuel. Controller advised expect landing in 30 minutes (or later). I offered to hold for 10 minutes. Controller said unable. I declared minimum fuel again. Controller advised that we must declare a fuel emergency to get priority. On entering hold I again offered to hold for 10 minutes. Controller advised we must declare a fuel emergency; which I did. Approach and landing were uneventful with approximately 33;000 fuel remaining.

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.