‘Mayday’: ATSB investigating after Qantas flight’s fuel reserves run low

A declaration of "Minimum fuel, min. fuel is the term used" is not the show stopper they would have you believe and is not a tool a professional uses lightly. It does ,however, mean you ain't got the fuel to hold and ATC will accommodate you ahead of others "Before" the declaration of a fuel emergency!

Better a queue jump than another "Gimli glider".

From data in the article all was legal so dont see any problem here ho hum.

Unusual but not the dramatic event it was made out to be.

All considered, even 40 minutes in reserve seems a little tight these days, perhaps less so in Australia but certainly in European and USA skies, with bad weather and congestion both aloft and at airports.

The headline gave me flashbacks to 1983 at the Gimli racetrack. This story was less exciting then having to clear a racetrack of people and obstacles so a 767 could land on it. We had about five minutes notice to get cars, trucks, trailers, people and everything else out of the way but we did it and no one was hurt. Another bonus is racetracks are always prepared for a fire and a few volunteers put out a fire at the nose of the plane befor it could spread. Like I say the story in the article was less exciting but I am glad that in both cases there were no major injuries.

this event may happen for numerous reasons not having to do with pilot errors. Pilot awareness and controller accomodations have coincided, with safety having won out. No real story here unless the same crew has the same thing happen anytime soon.