Fuel Reserve Requirements Reference
Minimum fuel reserves by rule — the reference table, properly sourced, with the reading rules that make it usable.
Legal minimums are starvation insurance, not planning targets — fuel exhaustion accidents overwhelmingly involved crews who planned to the minimum and met one surprise.
Minimum fuel reserves by rule (planning baselines)
| Rule / context | Requirement | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| FAA VFR day (91.151) | Destination + 30 min | At normal cruise consumption |
| FAA VFR night (91.151) | Destination + 45 min | |
| FAA IFR (91.167) | Destination + alternate + 45 min | Alternate when required by 1-2-3 |
| FAA helicopter VFR | Destination + 20 min | 91.151(b) |
| EASA NCO final reserve VFR | 30 min day / 45 min night | NCO.OP.125 |
| EASA NCO final reserve IFR | 45 min | Plus alternate per plan |
| Common ops practice | Fixed reserve + contingency | Operators add 5% contingency or similar |
Source: 14 CFR 91.151/91.167; EASA Air Ops NCO.OP.125 (planning minimums — operator and national rules may add)
⚠️ Not for operational decisions. This is a record-keeping and planning aid only — not certified avionics, not a source of regulatory truth. Always verify against official sources (FAA/EASA) and your operator's approved documents before flying.
Free fuel reserve requirements reference: minimum fuel reserves by rule (planning baselines) with source citation and the reading rules — the lookup that answers the question in five seconds.
About Fuel Reserve Requirements Reference
Legal minimums are starvation insurance, not planning targets — fuel exhaustion accidents overwhelmingly involved crews who planned to the minimum and met one surprise. That's the operational insight behind this reference: minimum fuel reserves by rule (planning baselines), sourced to 14 CFR 91.151/91.167; EASA Air Ops NCO.OP.125, formatted for the lookup speed real operations need. The FAQ carries the reading rules — the part that turns a table into competence.
How to use Fuel Reserve Requirements Reference
- 1Find your row by the left-column condition.
- 2Read across to your operation's column.
- 3Apply the modifiers the notes and FAQ flag — the table is the baseline.
Why use Fuel Reserve Requirements Reference?
- ✓The table itself: minimum fuel reserves by rule
- ✓Source-cited — verifiable against the rule text
- ✓Reading rules included: how the table is actually applied
- ✓Five-second lookups for crew rooms, flight bags and study
- ✓Free, browser-only, no account
Frequently asked questions
Are the 30/45-minute reserves enough to plan with?+
They're the legal floor, and the accident record argues loudly for more: fuel exhaustion remains a leading GA accident cause, and the pattern is consistent — minimum-reserve planning plus one surprise (headwind, weather deviation, closed runway, fuel pump inoperative at the planned stop). Working practice that survives: land with a fixed hour aboard (or your aircraft's honest 45 minutes), plan tankering around fuel availability NOTAMs, and treat the legal reserve as the line you explain to the FAA, not the line you fly to.
Is this table authoritative for operations?+
It's a faithful working summary, sourced to 14 CFR 91.151/91.167; EASA Air Ops NCO.OP.125 — but tables in tools, apps and even ops manuals are copies, and the rule text plus your operator's approved scheme govern when anything disagrees. Use this for speed and study; cite the regulation for decisions that get audited. The source line exists precisely so verification takes one lookup.
Why doesn't this tool sync to the cloud?+
By design: operational records are sensitive, and the simplest privacy guarantee is never transmitting them. Local-only storage means zero servers, zero breach surface and zero subscription. If you work from several devices, keep one as the master record and move snapshots with the CSV export.
Can I export these records for an audit?+
Yes — one click exports your complete reference data as a CSV file that opens in Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers. The export preserves every column exactly as entered, so you can print it, attach it to paperwork, or hand it to an inspector, buyer or insurance underwriter as a supporting summary alongside your official records.
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