Friday 3 June 2016

About emergencies

Hi,
I thought I would post about something that we all encounter on flight simulators; People declaring an emergency in order to jump the queue.

I don't mind emergency procedure practice but I would appreciate some advanced warning that you are going to practice. The issue arises around multiple people doing it at once, it creates a very unrealistic scenario which is less fun for everyone and increases the ATS workload significantly. If done properly we could turn it into something fun we can do.

I have heard a few versions of procedures for running low on fuel and everyone seems to just do what they think is right, myself included, so I thought the best thing to do is check what the CAA have to say on the subject.

Perhaps we can come to some procedure that applies more closely to FlightGear so people can practice these things at the same time add a little more realism for everyone.

So in order to see how the CAA handle these situations here is an extract;
Source; CAA Manual of Air Traffic Services - Part 1 (CAP413 ed5)
Section1: chapter 4 (Control of Traffic) pages 6 and 7.

10. Flight Priorities

10.1 Normally requests for clearances shall be dealt with in the order in which they are received and issued according to the traffic situation. However, certain flights are given priority over others and the following table shows the categorisation.

10.1 When two or more flights of different categories request clearance the flight with the highest category shall be dealt with first. Flow control procedures are implemented and actioned by the Central Flow Management Unit. A flow control priority will be allocated automatically on receipt of a flight plan.

10A. Minimum Fuel and Fuel Shortage 

 10A.1 Once in possession of the estimated delay for an approach a pilot will determine whether or not he can continue to the aerodrome or divert to a suitable alternative aerodrome.

10A.2 A pilot's declaration of "MINIMUM FUEL" indicates that no further fuel diversion options are available where the aircraft is committed to land at the pilot’s nominated aerodrome of landing with not less than 'final reserve fuel'. However, “MINIMUM FUEL” RTF phraseology is not universally used by every aircraft operator and pilot.

Note: Final reserve fuel is typically fuel for 30 minutes of flight for turbine powered aircraft or 45 minutes for piston powered aircraft. (EASA-OPS)
10A.3 Controllers are not required to provide priority to pilots of aircraft that have declared "MINIMUM FUEL" or that have indicated that they are becoming short of fuel.

10A.4 Controllers shall respond to a pilot's declaration of “MINIMUM FUEL” by confirming the estimated delay he can expect to receive expressed in minutes if the pilot is en-route to, is joining, or is established in an airborne hold; or by expressing the remaining track mileage from touchdown if the aircraft is being vectored to an approach.

10A.5 Once in possession of either the estimated delay or remaining track mileage, the pilot will determine whether or not he can continue to the aerodrome with or without declaring a fuel emergency. Controllers shall keep pilots informed of any increase in delay or increase in track mileage after the pilot's initial declaration of "MINIMUM FUEL" following which the controller can expect the pilot to declare an emergency.

10A.6 Controllers shall respond to a pilot who has indicated that he is becoming short of fuel but has not declared "MINIMUM FUEL", by confirming the estimated delay he can expect to receive expressed in minutes if the pilot is en-route to, is joining, or is established in an airborne hold; or by expressing the remaining track mileage from touchdown if the aircraft is being vectored to an approach; then ask the pilot if he wishes to declare an emergency.

10A.7
Pilots declaring an emergency should use the following RTF phraseology "MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY" or “MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY FUEL” and controllers shall provide such aircraft with flight priority category A (ICAO Annex 6).

10B. Medical Emergencies

10B.1 Pilots who allude to medical emergencies on-board, e.g. a sick passenger, but who do not formally declare an emergency or indicate that the person on board is seriously ill, shall be asked to confirm that they are declaring an emergency. In the absence of such a declaration, controllers are not required to give priority to the flight.

10C. Flight Priority Categories

10C.1 Controllers shall give priority to aircraft according to flight priority category listed below, where category A is the highest priority and Z is the lowest priority.

:END

What do you think?









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