A B737 flight crew reports arriving at their destination with low fuel and then having the tower cle...

Narrative:

Oxygen masks drop on takeoff. Had to stay FL250 for the entire flight. Got to destination with approximately 5.5 on the fuel. On a 2 mile final tower clear a dash 8 for takeoff. He wasn't that close to end of the runway when tower cleared him for takeoff. By the time he got on the runway we were on a 1 mile final. I made a comment to tower at about 200 feet this isn't good. Shortly after that he sent us around. First off; tower made a gross error; and the dash 8 pilot compounded towers mistake by not looking out the window. On the go-around I told my first officer to angle to the south side off the runway to keep eyes on the dash 8. Tower instructed us to turn to 330; the first officer looked down and said that's not a good idea; I looked out that side and the dash 8 was almost at our altitude. If we would have turned we would have had a midair collision. I immediately told tower we were turning southwest. He said climb to 3;000 feet. I looked down after clean up and saw 4;200 lbs of fuel. I knew that was a little low due to our climb angle. I declared [minimum] fuel; I instructed approach to tell tower we cannot afford a go-around again. Approach said he would shut the runway down for us. We made a short approach to limit our fuel burn. We were configured and on speed a 1;000 feet; and in the slot and on speed at 500 feet. It was not unsafe however; it was expeditious. As we taxied the low level fuel light came on in the right wing tank.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737 flight crew reports arriving at their destination with low fuel and then having the Tower clear an aircraft for takeoff in front of them with tight spacing which results in a go-around. A tight visual pattern is flown and the aircraft arrives at the gate with 4;000 pounds of fuel.

Narrative: Oxygen masks drop on takeoff. Had to stay FL250 for the entire flight. Got to destination with approximately 5.5 on the fuel. On a 2 mile final tower clear a Dash 8 for takeoff. He wasn't that close to end of the runway when tower cleared him for takeoff. By the time he got on the runway we were on a 1 mile final. I made a comment to tower at about 200 feet this isn't good. Shortly after that he sent us around. First off; tower made a gross error; and the Dash 8 pilot compounded towers mistake by not looking out the window. On the go-around I told my first officer to angle to the south side off the runway to keep eyes on the Dash 8. Tower instructed us to turn to 330; the First Officer looked down and said that's not a good idea; I looked out that side and the Dash 8 was almost at our altitude. If we would have turned we would have had a midair collision. I immediately told tower we were turning southwest. He said climb to 3;000 feet. I looked down after clean up and saw 4;200 lbs of fuel. I knew that was a little low due to our climb angle. I declared [minimum] Fuel; I instructed approach to tell tower we cannot afford a go-around again. Approach said he would shut the runway down for us. We made a short approach to limit our fuel burn. We were configured and on speed a 1;000 feet; and in the slot and on speed at 500 feet. It was not unsafe however; it was expeditious. As we taxied the low level fuel light came on in the right wing tank.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.

Attributes
ACN	1255378
Time
Date	201504
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Oxygen System/Pax
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Pilot Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue

A B737 flight crew reports arriving at their destination with low fuel and then having the tower clear an aircraft for takeoff in front of them with tight spacing which results in a go-around. A tight visual pattern is flown and the aircraft arrives at the gate with 4;000 pounds of fuel.