Low fuel emergency in DFW

"C J Campbell" wrote

There is some sort of myth that a pilot has to say the magic words
"declaring
an emergency" before it becomes an emergency in the eyes of either the FAA
or
the pilot or the law. There is no such requirement. What if the pilot
passes
out? Is it not an emergency just because the pilot doesn't say it is? When
you are low fuel and require special handling, it is an emergency, whether
anyone has actually 'declared' it or not. Same thing with fires, control
failures, or anything else that is an unplanned threat to life or property
that requires action to avoid it.

Excerpt from the USDOT FAA Air Traffic Bulletin:

"The Pilot/Controller Glossary describes EMERGENCY as "a distress or an
urgency condition." Aircraft instruments can individually or collectively
conspire to require pilots to consider declaring an emergency. Vacuum pump,
alternator/generator, and pilot/static systems often seem to be the
culprits. Loss of any of these systems should probably cause a prudent pilot
to consider declaring an emergency and to land as soon as practical.
However, pilots often hesitate to declare an emergency fearing the mythical
mountain of paperwork, government interviews, and ramp checks they have read
about in chat rooms and heard about in pilot lounges. Few, if any of us,
have ever met a pilot with firsthand knowledge of this paperwork
catastrophe, but most pilots believe it exists. Fortunately, FAA orders
allow controllers to handle a situation as though it were an emergency even
if the words "Mayday" or "Pan-Pan" are not used."

I think the idea is that if you want a guarantee of priority handling you
should use the proper terminology (note that they use the phrase "delcaring
an emergency"). Sure, ATC *may* give it to you even if you don't, but there
is no guarantee that they will, and there are plenty of real-world examples
of this out there that ended badly or very well could have.

The various recurrency training courses I have taken over the years have
always referred to the need to declare the emergency in order to be assured
of priority handling. In fact, one of the training centers I am familiar
with is run by a retired ATC professional who also designed and teaches a
portion of the course, so if this is all a misconception it seems to be a
widely held one.

BDS

On Sat, 24 Feb 2007 20:02:47 -0800, BDS wrote
(in article ) :

"C J Campbell" wrote

There is some sort of myth that a pilot has to say the magic words
"declaring
an emergency" before it becomes an emergency in the eyes of either the FAA
or
the pilot or the law. There is no such requirement. What if the pilot
passes
out? Is it not an emergency just because the pilot doesn't say it is? When
you are low fuel and require special handling, it is an emergency, whether
anyone has actually 'declared' it or not. Same thing with fires, control
failures, or anything else that is an unplanned threat to life or property
that requires action to avoid it.

Excerpt from the USDOT FAA Air Traffic Bulletin:

"The Pilot/Controller Glossary describes EMERGENCY as "a distress or an
urgency condition." Aircraft instruments can individually or collectively
conspire to require pilots to consider declaring an emergency. Vacuum pump,
alternator/generator, and pilot/static systems often seem to be the
culprits. Loss of any of these systems should probably cause a prudent pilot
to consider declaring an emergency and to land as soon as practical.
However, pilots often hesitate to declare an emergency fearing the mythical
mountain of paperwork, government interviews, and ramp checks they have read
about in chat rooms and heard about in pilot lounges. Few, if any of us,
have ever met a pilot with firsthand knowledge of this paperwork
catastrophe, but most pilots believe it exists. Fortunately, FAA orders
allow controllers to handle a situation as though it were an emergency even
if the words "Mayday" or "Pan-Pan" are not used."

I think the idea is that if you want a guarantee of priority handling you
should use the proper terminology (note that they use the phrase "delcaring
an emergency"). Sure, ATC *may* give it to you even if you don't, but there
is no guarantee that they will, and there are plenty of real-world examples
of this out there that ended badly or very well could have.

The various recurrency training courses I have taken over the years have
always referred to the need to declare the emergency in order to be assured
of priority handling. In fact, one of the training centers I am familiar
with is run by a retired ATC professional who also designed and teaches a
portion of the course, so if this is all a misconception it seems to be a
widely held one.

No, I think you described it pretty much as I understand it. There is no need
to declare it to be an emergency for it to be treated as one. All emergencies
should be treated as such even if they are not declared. And to ensure proper
handling declaring an emergency is good communication practice.
That pretty well sums up your post.

The mountain of paperwork is definitely mythical. The worst emergency I ever
had, in which several people were injured when we flew into a microburst, did
have some paperwork, but all they wanted was a written one-page description
of what happened. And that was in the Air Force, where paperwork is king.
Most emergencies require no paperwork at all, and few would require so much
as a NASA report.

Heck, I had to fill out more paperwork for auto accidents the missionaries
had while i was in the Philippines than I have had for any emergency.

--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor

It's probably just because I got a lot of praise during my early
toilet training, but I get irked because flyers never get as detailed
training in emergency radio terminology as recreational boaters do.

Here's what boaters are supposed to pick up from Coast Guard Auxiliary
or Power Squadron classes:

"There are three levels of emergency calls.

"First Level Emergency: The "distress" signal is "MAYDAY". This word
should be said three (3) times: "MAYDAY - MAYDAY - MAYDAY!". This
signal is to be used only when there is grave danger (you’re gonna
die) to your crew or your boat.

"Second Level Emergency: The "urgency" signal is "Pan-Pan" (pronounced
"pon-pon"). This should be stated three (3) times: "PAN-PAN - PAN-PAN
- PAN-PAN!". This signal should be used when you have a serious, but
not life threatening, situation that requires assistance. Some
examples are serious illness or injury to a crewmember, or if the
captain himself becomes incapacitated. Running out of gas is not a
Pan-Pan situation, unless you are in danger of being swept ashore in
high seas.

"Third Level Emergency: The "safety" signal is "Security" (pronounced
as "SAY-CURE-IT-TAY"). This word should also be said three (3) times:
"SECURITY - SECURITY - SECURITY!". This signal should be used to warn
of conditions that may affect boaters in that area. Some examples are
storm warnings, hazards to navigation (such as a huge log or other
objects that could damage a boat) or alerts from large ships when they
are going to be in a narrow channel. ("Security - Security - Security,
this is the car ferry Badger. We will be at the Ludington pier head in
20 minutes.")"

Don

I've never seen this documented with respect to Aviation. Unless the rest
of the pilots and controllers on your frequency are also Coast Guard-
approved boaters, all keying "SECURITY-SECURITY-SECURITY" would do is get
me an F-16 escort at best...

I can't imagine what the kind of responses "Pon-Pon-Pon-Pon-Pon-Pon" would
solicit. I'm guessing several smart remark about cheerleaders, though.
Especially in Dallas.


Don Tuite wrote in
:

It's probably just because I got a lot of praise during my early
toilet training, but I get irked because flyers never get as detailed
training in emergency radio terminology as recreational boaters do.

Here's what boaters are supposed to pick up from Coast Guard Auxiliary
or Power Squadron classes:

"There are three levels of emergency calls.

"First Level Emergency: The "distress" signal is "MAYDAY". This word
should be said three (3) times: "MAYDAY - MAYDAY - MAYDAY!". This
signal is to be used only when there is grave danger (you’re gonna
die) to your crew or your boat.

"Second Level Emergency: The "urgency" signal is "Pan-Pan" (pronounced
"pon-pon"). This should be stated three (3) times: "PAN-PAN - PAN-PAN
- PAN-PAN!". This signal should be used when you have a serious, but
not life threatening, situation that requires assistance. Some
examples are serious illness or injury to a crewmember, or if the
captain himself becomes incapacitated. Running out of gas is not a
Pan-Pan situation, unless you are in danger of being swept ashore in
high seas.

"Third Level Emergency: The "safety" signal is "Security" (pronounced
as "SAY-CURE-IT-TAY"). This word should also be said three (3) times:
"SECURITY - SECURITY - SECURITY!". This signal should be used to warn
of conditions that may affect boaters in that area. Some examples are
storm warnings, hazards to navigation (such as a huge log or other
objects that could damage a boat) or alerts from large ships when they
are going to be in a narrow channel. ("Security - Security - Security,
this is the car ferry Badger. We will be at the Ludington pier head in
20 minutes.")"

Don

Don Tuite wrote:
It's probably just because I got a lot of praise during my early
toilet training, but I get irked because flyers never get as detailed
training in emergency radio terminology as recreational boaters do.

Who says we don't? The following passage in the AIM was covered
repeatedly in my training and has been revisited occasionally in BFRs:

6-3-1. Distress and Urgency Communications

a. A pilot who encounters a distress or urgency condition can obtain
assistance simply by contacting the air traffic facility or other agency
in whose area of responsibility the aircraft is operating, stating the
nature of the difficulty, pilot's intentions and assistance desired.
Distress and urgency communications procedures are prescribed by the
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), however, and have
decided advantages over the informal procedure described above.

b. Distress and urgency communications procedures discussed in the
following paragraphs relate to the use of air ground voice communications.

c. The initial communication, and if considered necessary, any
subsequent transmissions by an aircraft in distress should begin with
the signal MAYDAY, preferably repeated three times. The signal PAN-PAN
should be used in the same manner for an urgency condition.

d. Distress communications have absolute priority over all other
communications, and the word MAYDAY commands radio silence on the
frequency in use. Urgency communications have priority over all other
communications except distress, and the word PAN-PAN warns other
stations not to interfere with urgency transmissions.

e. Normally, the station addressed will be the air traffic facility or
other agency providing air traffic services, on the frequency in use at
the time. If the pilot is not communicating and receiving services, the
station to be called will normally be the air traffic facility or other
agency in whose area of responsibility the aircraft is operating, on the
appropriate assigned frequency. If the station addressed does not
respond, or if time or the situation dictates, the distress or urgency
message may be broadcast, or a collect call may be used, addressing "Any
Station (Tower)(Radio)(Radar)."