ATC Handling of Low-Fuel American Flight

"Jim Macklin" wrote in message
...

Maybe, how much time was available? If the AA plane was in
DFW approach airspace, it was maybe 5-6 minutes out, how
long would clearing all the other traffic take?


Why didn't you listen to the tape?

Jim Macklin wrote:
I'm glad you're pilot's certificate made you omnipotent, I
always suggested alternate course of action and asked "why?"

Being sarcastic doesn't help your case. Not understanding what PIC
means in an emergency doesn't help your case, either.

I read on another post that the plane was 81 miles out, if
so, then ATC had the time. But what are the facts, where
was the plane, when was an emergency declared, when was the
runway requested?

When all else fails, listen to the tape.

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote:

Irrelevant. The time required to move that traffic was less than the time
required for the aircraft in distress to fly downwind and land.

Are you related to Norm Melick?

LOL

"Jim Macklin" wrote in message
...

I don't know just where the TUL-DFW emergency began, do you.


That information was on the tape, why didn't you listen to it?


Is it better for ATC to give the pilot what he wants or what
he needs?


Is it better for ATC to decide what the pilot needs or better that the pilot
make that decision?

"Jim Macklin" writes:

Maybe, how much time was available? If the AA plane was in
DFW approach airspace, it was maybe 5-6 minutes out, how
long would clearing all the other traffic take?

The time required to read a vector to each aircraft and receive the readback.
"(callsign), turn to heading xxx" and "Turn to heading xxx, (callsign)"
multiplied by the number of aircraft. If each instruction and readback
require a total of eight seconds (and I'm being generous), and there are
twenty aircraft to be moved, that's 160 seconds, or just under three minutes.
In reality, of course, they won't all have to be moved, and it isn't even
likely that there would be two dozen in close proximity. There are other
factors that come into play, most of them reducing, not increasing the time
required to move other traffic.

On a busy day at Wichita, there might be three other
aircraft, at DFW, it would be dozens. How long does it
take?

See above. It doesn't take very long.

BTHOOM, but it does take some measurable time.

Yes, measurable time, but not significant time.

ATC has limitations, they can be UNABLE just as pilots can
be unable.

They are never unable to divert traffic. If they were, then many aircraft
would crash each time a thunderstorm rolled over the airport or an aircraft
was slow in leaving the runway.

If the AA plane was over Ardmore, then DFW had
plenty of time, if the AA plane was close-in, there would
not be time to clear the space.

There's always time to clear the space. Most of it is clear already. The
only real obstacle is an aircraft on the runway, and that can be cleared in a
few seconds.

You seem very reluctant to accept the reality of unconditional priority for
aircraft with emergencies, and very eager to postulate highly fanciful
scenarios in which it would somehow be difficult to make way for an aircraft
with an emergency to land on the runway of the pilot's choice.

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"Jim Macklin" writes:

Is it better for ATC to give the pilot what he wants or what
he needs?

What he wants. ATC doesn't know what he needs.

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Jim Macklin wrote:


Is it better for ATC to give the pilot what he wants or what
he needs?

Somewhere earlier in this thread someone said "ATC had to provide for
AAL's possible go-around." (perhaps that was you?)

If AAL's had a low fuel state sufficent to have declared his emergency
he did not have the option to go around. If the gear or flaps did not
come down, he was committed to land on the first try, no matter what.

If he had fuel for a go-around it was a bogus emergency.

Have you read the 1993 Avianca crash report at JFK?

Jim Macklin wrote:
From a pilot's seat for many years, at such little airports
as DFW, ATL, DEN,STL, ORD, etc.

Many hours in the cab and TRACON as a visitor, watching
airports "turn around."

It shouldn't be necessary for the airport to turn around in the case in
question. The traffic just has to be moved out of the way of the
emergency airplane.

"Jim Macklin" writes:

I'm glad you're pilot's certificate made you omnipotent ...

That's what the term "pilot in command" is meant to convey. The PIC is
omnipotent aboard his aircraft. His decision on how the aircraft is to be
flown is final.

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"Jim Macklin" writes:

Not unless you ignore all the other traffic.

s/ignore/divert/

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