Definition
On an IFR fuel planning worksheet, the total amount of fuel a pilot must have on board before departure, calculated by adding the fuel needed for taxi, climb, en route cruise to the destination, approach, missed approach, flight to the alternate airport, and the required fuel reserve.
Plain English
The full amount of fuel you need loaded before you take off, covering every part of the planned flight plus a safety margin.
Context Anchor
Seen on IFR flight planning forms and navigation logs, especially in the fuel planning section before departure.
Derivation
Total comes from a Latin word meaning “whole” or “all.” Required means “needed” or “called for.” Together, the phrase points to the full amount that must be available, not just the amount expected for the main route.
Why Pilots Care
Determines whether the aircraft can legally and safely depart; insufficient total required fuel is a common cause of IFR delays or diversions.
Intuition Check
Do not read TOTAL REQUIRED as a rough estimate or a nice-to-have amount. In this context, it is the calculated minimum the fuel plan says the flight needs.
Example Sentence 1
After adding the fuel for each leg and the 45-minute reserve, the Total Required came to 48 gallons, which was within the aircraft's 50-gallon capacity.
Example Sentence 2
The pilot compared the total required against usable fuel on board before accepting the IFR clearance.