Narrative:

I operated as pilot flying the captain was pilot not flying and the flight departed normally although a little late due to passenger security screening issues. Flight had to deviate around many thunderstorms along the southern part of our flight. Winds were much stronger than forecast at FL380 and howgozit report reflected this fact as we were 1000 pounds of fuel over flight planned burn. The flight encountered more thunderstorm activity which required minor deviations and continued all along our path. As we approached an intersection the center controller told us there was weather overhead our destination and we should expect to go into holding. Inside an area of weather; we asked to deviate from course and the controller put us on an easterly heading and was going to advise us what was upcoming since the frequency was saturated with aircraft deviating all over. We tried to remain clear of weather throughout this process and asked for a fix to hold and to slow down. We received more turns but never a holding fix or efc. When we asked for a better plan; we were told that our destination had closed and expect to hold. We wandered around on vectors for 20 minutes at FL380 at a slow speed to conserve fuel without any hold instructions or efc. We brought up our alternate's weather and found it suitable; and looking at the radar; we had a clear direct path not involving any thunderstorm activity. We requested a present position hold and were granted one with left turns which put us in some weather; we flew close to it and requested right turns to smooth out the ride when the frequency allowed. The controller revised our present position hold and gave us an efc of 40 minutes. We advised ATC we had 20 minutes of hold fuel available before we needed to divert to our alternate. We did two turns in holding and after that were cleared back to the southwest towards another intersection for further holding. This path would have taken us through more areas of thunderstorms with no guarantee of being able to attempt the approach based on the closed status of the airport. Fob (fuel on board) was 10.1 and the captain made the decision to divert to our alternate since the updates from the controller did not show improvement. We advised dispatch of our intentions and then verified that a direct line to our alternate would give us a landing fuel of 8.0 as calculated by the FMS and rough estimates by ourselves. We were told the next center was advised of our intentions and switched to their frequency. The controller gave us a turn which would have taken us through weather which we would have had to deviate around back towards our destination to join the alternate's arrival back to the northeast. Our alternate was landing southwest. We would have had to go back southwest with deviations; back to the northeast on the arrival; and then turn back to the southwest to land. The captain asked for direct to our alternate due to the routing having us in a minimum fuel situation with implications of being worse if delayed further. Controller said he was unable more direct routing and asked if we wanted priority handling. The captain said on that cleared routing we would be in a minimum fuel situation and the controller said we could go direct if an emergency was declared. The captain concurred and requested this and we were given direct to our alternate. The captain advised the in-flight crew and the passengers of the change in landing destinations and kept the dispatcher up to date on our progress. Crew did not have charts in our flight kits for the approach yet we utilized the on board set of charts for the deviation. Flight landed at our alternate without incident and fuel on board was 7.0. We terminated the emergency with the tower and we never had to deviate or exercise any turns or descents without ATC commands and concurrence throughout the arrival. Captain completed post-deviation checklist and post emergency checklist as per the fom guidance at the parking stand after parking completed.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B757 crew declared a fuel emergency and diverted to its planned alternate because of a destination airport weather closure and fuel endurance considerations.

Narrative: I operated as pilot flying the Captain was pilot not flying and the flight departed normally although a little late due to passenger security screening issues. Flight had to deviate around many thunderstorms along the southern part of our flight. Winds were much stronger than forecast at FL380 and Howgozit report reflected this fact as we were 1000 pounds of fuel over flight planned burn. The flight encountered more thunderstorm activity which required minor deviations and continued all along our path. As we approached an intersection the Center Controller told us there was weather overhead our destination and we should expect to go into holding. Inside an area of weather; we asked to deviate from course and the Controller put us on an easterly heading and was going to advise us what was upcoming since the frequency was saturated with aircraft deviating all over. We tried to remain clear of weather throughout this process and asked for a fix to hold and to slow down. We received more turns but never a holding fix or EFC. When we asked for a better plan; we were told that our destination had closed and expect to hold. We wandered around on vectors for 20 minutes at FL380 at a slow speed to conserve fuel without any hold instructions or EFC. We brought up our alternate's weather and found it suitable; and looking at the radar; we had a clear direct path not involving any thunderstorm activity. We requested a present position hold and were granted one with left turns which put us in some weather; we flew close to it and requested right turns to smooth out the ride when the frequency allowed. The Controller revised our present position hold and gave us an EFC of 40 minutes. We advised ATC we had 20 minutes of hold fuel available before we needed to divert to our alternate. We did two turns in holding and after that were cleared back to the southwest towards another intersection for further holding. This path would have taken us through more areas of thunderstorms with no guarantee of being able to attempt the approach based on the closed status of the airport. FOB (fuel on board) was 10.1 and the Captain made the decision to divert to our alternate since the updates from the Controller did not show improvement. We advised Dispatch of our intentions and then verified that a direct line to our alternate would give us a landing fuel of 8.0 as calculated by the FMS and rough estimates by ourselves. We were told the next Center was advised of our intentions and switched to their frequency. The Controller gave us a turn which would have taken us through weather which we would have had to deviate around back towards our destination to join the alternate's arrival back to the northeast. Our alternate was landing southwest. We would have had to go back southwest with deviations; back to the northeast on the arrival; and then turn back to the southwest to land. The Captain asked for direct to our alternate due to the routing having us in a minimum fuel situation with implications of being worse if delayed further. Controller said he was unable more direct routing and asked if we wanted priority handling. The Captain said on that cleared routing we would be in a minimum fuel situation and the Controller said we could go direct if an emergency was declared. The Captain concurred and requested this and we were given direct to our alternate. The Captain advised the in-flight crew and the passengers of the change in landing destinations and kept the Dispatcher up to date on our progress. Crew did not have charts in our flight kits for the approach yet we utilized the on board set of charts for the deviation. Flight landed at our alternate without incident and fuel on board was 7.0. We terminated the emergency with the Tower and we never had to deviate or exercise any turns or descents without ATC commands and concurrence throughout the arrival. Captain completed post-deviation checklist and post emergency checklist as per the FOM guidance at the parking stand after parking completed.

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.