BMS F-16C/D 4.34, Flight Manual

Page: 129 / 234

T.O. BMS1F-16CM-1 BMS 4.34 Change 2.00
BMS 4.34 Dash 1
© Red Dog 2012-2019
Page: 129
1.7.9. Managing Fuel: Joker & Bingo
As Flight L
ead, you may have to set a Joker/Bingo level for the whole flight. But first let’s define
BINGO and JOKER.
BINGO fuel is the amount of fuel that once reached triggers an immediate return to home plate.
It takes into account the fuel needed to fly the return leg of the flight, the fuel required to fly the briefed
approach, the fuel to go to the alternate (if necessary) and the emergency fuel which is not supposed
to be used except in an emergency. That emergency fuel is 1200 lbs for the F-16 block 40-52 and 800
lbs for earlier blocks.
JOKER fuel is usually set above BINGO as a warning that the bingo is approaching. We usually set it
1000 lbs above Bingo to allow 1 minute of combat time in AB. That rule is not fixed in stone and can
vary.
As you may understand by now the planned BINGO is dependent on many factors that need or may
not need to be taken into consideration.
How is the weather? What are the chances to being rerouted to the alternate? What is the type of
mission? Patrol at loiter speed or bombing or escort or SEAD tactics on multiple threats? What is the
expected opposition on the return leg? The possibility of A-A intercepts? Do we fly low level or high
level egress? Is there a tanker available?
All this makes BINGO computation quite mission specific but here is one way (amongst others) to
compute Bingo conservatively:
1. Min fuel on landing for F-16 Block 50/52: 1200 lbs (800 lbs for earlier blocks).
2 a) If VMC (Visual Meteorological Conditions): 1 pattern = 400 lbs - so add 400 lbs just in case you
screw up the overhead and need to go around.
2 b) If IMC (Instrument Meteorological Conditions): 1 STAR = 800 lbs, so add 800 lbs just in case you
have to go missed approach and re-do the STAR.
3. Compute fuel needed to go the alternate. If alternate is say 70Nm from home, multiply by 10 = 700
lbs to get there.
4. Final calculation is from the furthest steerpoint of the flight plan.
Take the return leg distance (along the route, not in a straight line) into consideration and multiply it by
15 to estimate fuel needed: (so 15 lbs/Nm for mid altitude
– multiply by 20 for low altitude egress)
So if the furthest point is 200 Nm away from home plate calculate 200 x 15 = 3000 lbs.
So BINGO is the sum of all that:
1200 + 400 + 700 + 3000 = 5300 for VMC.
1200 + 800 + 700 + 3000 = 5700 for IMC.
Joker is 1000 more: 6300 and 6700 respectively.
As you can see BINGO is tied to a steerpoint. If you did not reach your computed Joker or Bingo level
for that steerpoint and started your egress there is no real reason to call your fuel state over the radio.
The situation remains dynamic though so if something happens on the return leg you may have to
recompute a Bingo. Doing this is easy, just select the CRUS page and HOME subpage and check
your fuel state at home plate at any moment in your flight. Make sure that fuel is above minimum fuel
(eme ap alternate = 1200 + 400 (or 800) + 700 = 2300 (or 2700)) and as soon as the
fuel remaining over home is equal to this value you’re BINGO. Add 1000 and you’re Joker.
BINGO and JOKER are entered at the same spot in the UFC:
LIST 2 (BINGO) page.
Obviously you first enter JOKER and when you reach that
you reset it by typing in the numbers for BINGO.