Dear Bob,
I would like to know the difference between the search fuel and holding fuel. Why is the search fuel regarded as trip fuel while the holding fuel is not?(Page 108 of CPL Performance).
Regards,
Alan
That's really a matter of company fuel policy and it would have to be made clear in the wording of the question whether or not a variable reserve is to be carried on search fuel. As far as the regulations are concerned, a search is aerial work, not a charter, so the variable reserve is not required by law. However, some companies may require variable reserve on any operation that is not conducted over an aerodrome.
The fixed reserve is intended to be used if you cannot land at the destination aerodrome, so, if you needed it, you would be holding over an aerodrome and the variable reserve would not apply. However, the search is not conducted over an aerodrome so some companies may require that the variable reserve is required on search fuel.
In any case, in today's GA environment, fixed wing GA aircraft are not often used in a search operation.
