Hi everyone, I'm sitting the CNAV exam next week and I'm feeling pretty confident, but I just have one concern and it is regarding the reserves in fuel calculations.
I have always understood that a charter flight must carry a fixed reserve of 45 mins and 10% of trip fuel and a private flight must carry 30 mins without variable reserve, unless specified otherwise by the question. After reading AC 91-15v1.1 which replaced CAAP 234-1 it says all VFR aircraft under 5700kg must carry 30 mins of final reserve and no contingency fuel. I'm assuming I must use these figures in the exam unless the question specifies otherwise? Question 1 in online exam 3 asks to calculate min fuel for a charter flight but doesn't specify a figure for the variable or fixed reserve so I assumed 45 minutes and 10% which got me the correct answer. I know that fixed reserve is the legacy term but I'm just looking for some clarification. I don't want to lose marks for something like this. Am I to assume that 30 minutes and no variable reserve/contingency fuel unless the question says otherwise?

That's just another example of the mess CASA made when they introduced the new regulations. It seems that the AC was written for private (Part 91) flights. If you check Part 135 fuel requirements for Air Transport (used to be charter) flights, you will see that Air Transport flights do require 45 minutes Final Reserve Fuel (used to be called Fixed Reserve) and 10% Contingency Fuel (used to be called variable reserve). So it all depends on whether the flight is Air Transport or Private. They'll have to tell you that in the question text.

Bob

Cheers Bob