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VFR fixed fuel reserve for small piston or turboprop aeroplanes

The fixed fuel reserve for day visual flight rules (VFR) for small piston or turboprop aeroplanes is 30 minutes under the new fuel rules that commenced on 8 November 2018.

CASA had recommended a 45-minute reserve, but having considered feedback from the aviation community, this has been reduced.

The reduction to 30 minutes fixed fuel reserve is supported by the introduction of in-flight fuel management requirements and enhanced guidance material to help improve safety.

Explaining the rules

We have released guidance material and updated existing documents to help explain how the changes work in practice.

For private pilots operating under visual flight rules (VFR) only visit the fuel requirements and fuel planning pages in the Visual Flight Rules Guide (VFRG).

For more complex operations, CAAP 234-1(2) covers aircraft fuel requirements and sample calculations

For operators, CASA has updated the following documents to assist in preparing or amending your operations manual:

View the full rules Civil Aviation (Fuel Requirements) Instrument 2018.