A B737-700 crew reported that prior to a flight the landing gear MEL'ed down; they questioned the di...

Attributes
ACN	885576
Time
Date	201004
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-700
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Landing Gear
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 170 Flight Crew Type 170
Person 2
Function	First Officer
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 184 Flight Crew Type 4900
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue

Narrative:

After arriving; we had a note from scheduling advising us of a reroute. We found out we'd be flying a plane instead deadheading. The aircraft had a gear issue and needed to be flown under an MEL with the gear extended. I called dispatch to check on the fuel load; because it seemed low for the flight. The dispatcher went over the chart while I was on the phone and assured me that the fuel load was correct for the intended flight with the gear extended. I was concerned and bumped the fuel about 1000 lbs. After climb while in cruise; the first officer and I could see that the fuel was not going to be adequate to arrive at our destination with the proper reserves. We made a decision to divert and coordinated with dispatch. The dispatcher agreed with the divert plan; and he sent an amended release plan to show the new destination plan. We arrived without incident; took on more fuel; and continued as normal. I would like to have a chart available to use as a backup for this type of operation. Crews should follow along with a chart for this type of operation.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737-700 Crew reported that prior to a flight the landing gear MEL'ed down; they questioned the dispatch fuel load and in fact added an additional 1;000 lbs. At cruise the crew determined that insufficient fuel was on board to cover destination reserves and so diverted enroute for fuel.

Narrative: After arriving; we had a note from Scheduling advising us of a reroute. We found out we'd be flying a plane instead deadheading. The aircraft had a gear issue and needed to be flown under an MEL with the gear extended. I called Dispatch to check on the fuel load; because it seemed low for the flight. The Dispatcher went over the chart while I was on the phone and assured me that the fuel load was correct for the intended flight with the gear extended. I was concerned and bumped the fuel about 1000 lbs. After climb while in cruise; the First Officer and I could see that the fuel was not going to be adequate to arrive at our destination with the proper reserves. We made a decision to divert and coordinated with Dispatch. The Dispatcher agreed with the divert plan; and he sent an amended Release plan to show the new destination plan. We arrived without incident; took on more fuel; and continued as normal. I would like to have a chart available to use as a backup for this type of operation. Crews should follow along with a chart for this type of operation.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.

A B737-700 crew reported that prior to a flight the landing gear MEL'ed down; they questioned the dispatch fuel load and in fact added an additional 1;000 lbs. At cruise the crew determined that insufficient fuel was on board to cover destination reserves and so diverted enroute for fuel.