It does seem that you had "time" for you and ATC to manage.
I don't know just where the TUL-DFW emergency began, do you.
It was in the DFW area as far as I recall from the other
posts, ATC offered other airports and the pilot declined
[which raises the question in my mind of just how serious
the pilot was treating his emergency] and ATC did get him
safely on the ground.

I am an absolutist on the subject of PIC rights, as I am
about gun-rights, and property rights. But I am also aware
that even Doctor Welby [or House] can't save everybody.
The reason for the TFR may have been worries about terrorism
and threats to the President, but 30 NM does give time for
ATC emergencies too.

My point is that pilot's emergency authority allows
deviations as needed [and is a get out of jail free] but
some request can be done within the available time and some
can't. I have never seen or heard an accurate or
knowledgeable report on aviation, guns, or other technical
topics on the television. Just the other day on the History
Channel, the Gunny said that the B36 used turboprop engines.

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



"Sam Spade" wrote in message
...
| Jim Macklin wrote:
| 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.
|
|
| They don't have to have a sterile environment like they do
for Air Force
| One. As you say, no aircraft can be within 30 miles of
the airport when
| Air Force One is approaching or departing.
|
| This is entirely different.
|
| When I was flying the line I had only one genuine
emergency and it was
| on a clear day at ORD. We had just been shipped over to
approach from
| center. We told approach we needed 14R. They already
knew the nature
| of our emergency, having been briefed by the center. Once
they were
| directly aware of our need for 14R they gave us a new
frequency.
|
| Turns out we were the only flight on that frequency. We
were about 25
| miles out and pointed directly to 14R. We never heard
about how they
| cleared the way for us (we were too busy to care) but it
was like we
| owned the airport.
|
| As we got fairly close in we could see aircraft using 14L,
but 14R was
| our's.
|
| DFW has a better layout than ORD and the proper handling
of a genuine
| emergency could have been handled as well as, or better,
than the
| handling at ORD I described.
|
| My emergency was before the PATCO strike, for whatever
that may be worth.
|
| Another situation on my airline. A friend of mine had two
engines
| failed enroute in a 727. This is a very rare event, but
it is a trained
| maneuver. Once the grear is down and final landing flaps
(flaps 5 in
| this case) are selected there is no going around. The
emergency started
| about 80 miles out from LAX inbound. Everything was goind
good until
| they were handed off to the tower and they heard the tower
still using
| the runway they were assigned. The captain told them,
loud and clear,
| that the aircraft was incapable of going around and if
they didn't stop
| using the runway right now, they were landing along side
of whatever
| traffic they might be foolish enough to have on the
runway.
|
| That got it cleared up.
|
| The AAL guy absolutely should have done about the same
thing.