ATC Handling of Low-Fuel American Flight

"Jim Macklin" wrote in message
...

DFW had lots of traffic, I'm pretty sure the AA flight got
the quickest landing possible.


Nope. They were north of the field, so the quickest landing would be to the
south.

"Jim Macklin" wrote in message
...

Then you tell us all, in detail.


"Us all"? I'm pretty sure you're the only one that doesn't get it.

"Jim Macklin" wrote in message
...

My point is that ATC did get him on the ground safely. If
ATC had granted the pilot's request for 17 and it had taken
longer to clear the airspace and get him on the ground, ATC
would still be blamed.


If ATC had granted the pilot's request for runway 17 it would have taken
less time to get him on the ground, not more. That's why he wanted runway
17.

"Jim Macklin" writes:

Because unless you clear the airspace, any clearance for an
aircraft in distress and declaring an emergency has to have
zero traffic conflicts.

You don't need to clear the airspace. You just need to keep other aircraft
out of the way.

They do that now, only for the President, a 30 NM radius.

What is done for the President is intended as a show of power; it has no
security justification.

DFW had lots of traffic, I'm pretty sure the AA flight got
the quickest landing possible.

How many aircraft were in the air, and where were they?

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

"Jim Macklin" writes:

A pilot declares an "emergency" and wants something done.
The pilot only knows what he can see on his panel, what he
has been told on the radio and therefore, his request may
not be THE solution to the problem.

The pilot's decision is final. He decides on the solution, nobody else.

My point is that ATC did get him on the ground safely.

Not unless the controller was Charlton Heston and had himself lowered into the
cockpit on a rope.

If ATC had granted the pilot's request for 17 ...

ATC cannot withhold or grant requests to an aircraft that has declared an
emergency. It can only take note of the pilot's intentions and direct other
traffic and services appropriately.

--
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"Mitty" wrote in message
...

Au contraire. With a 7700 squawk then if the emergency situation wasn't
mentioned in the handoff (which it possibly wasn't) then the next
controller would still have known something was seriously wrong.

(Now possibly if AA had squawked 7700 he would have been asked to switch
off that code at some point, but we don't even know from the video whether
he tried it.)


Code 7700 is assigned when the pilot declares an emergency and the aircraft
is not radar identified. Switching to 7700 when you're already radar
identified accomplishes nothing, with the possible exception of causing
confusion.

Only after the other traffic was out of the way. IF [the
unknown none of us know] the plane was a 5 minute out
straight in to 17 and it would take 11 minutes to clear all
the other airplanes out of the way, a hold would be
required.

What was the traffic count and where was each airplane,
which way do you turn them so they don't collide with the
airplane in distress or each other, what traffic was at the
other airports on the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and how would it
be effected?

So far, only the President of the United States gets
airspace that clear, all the time.



"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in
message
nk.net...
|
| "Jim Macklin" wrote
in message
| ...
|
| DFW had lots of traffic, I'm pretty sure the AA flight
got
| the quickest landing possible.
|
|
| Nope. They were north of the field, so the quickest
landing would be to the
| south.
|
|

Not unless you ignore all the other traffic.



"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in
message
nk.net...
|
| "Jim Macklin" wrote
in message
| ...
|
| My point is that ATC did get him on the ground safely.
If
| ATC had granted the pilot's request for 17 and it had
taken
| longer to clear the airspace and get him on the ground,
ATC
| would still be blamed.
|
|
| If ATC had granted the pilot's request for runway 17 it
would have taken
| less time to get him on the ground, not more. That's why
he wanted runway
| 17.
|
|

Then tell me. In case you don't know... 8,000 plus hours,
FAR 135, several type ratings, grass strips and big
airports, sometimes on the same day. Have declared
emergency on several occasions. Have visited ATC
facilities.
Have flown into, usually single-pilot, ATL, DFW, ORD, and
other similar. I know that once you have a steady stream of
arrivals, they can't be suddenly stopped. FAR priority does
not alter the laws of space, time or physics.




--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in
message
news |
| "Jim Macklin" wrote
in message
| ...
|
| Then you tell us all, in detail.
|
|
| "Us all"? I'm pretty sure you're the only one that
doesn't get it.
|
|

"Jim Macklin" wrote in message
...

Only after the other traffic was out of the way. IF [the
unknown none of us know] the plane was a 5 minute out
straight in to 17 and it would take 11 minutes to clear all
the other airplanes out of the way, a hold would be
required.

What was the traffic count and where was each airplane,
which way do you turn them so they don't collide with the
airplane in distress or each other, what traffic was at the
other airports on the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and how would it
be effected?

So far, only the President of the United States gets
airspace that clear, all the time.


The other traffic would be out of the way by the time the plane arrived..