Air to Ground
Declaring an Emergency
I have worked with a lot of pilots over the years: student pilots, GA pilots, military pilots, and air carrier pilots. All of them have been, and should be, very proud of their flying abilities. Although I do silently chuckle when a pilot files his time en route as “1 hour and 29 minutes” I realize that being precise is necessary in aviation. There was one pilot of a Learjet who actually filed 34 and a half minutes to Chihuahua, Mexico, one time -- he was disappointed that the computer would not take fractions of a minute. Unfortunately this also means that some pilots do not want to ask for help until the last minute.
Declaring an emergency is an easy call if there is some catastrophic malfunction in the aircraft. It’s those situations that are not immediately threatening or are somewhat embarrassing that I will address below.
Two of these pop quickly to mind – getting lost and getting low on fuel. As I worked Flight Watch a year ago, a VFR pilot called at 9:20 p.m. asking if I knew if he could get fuel at Goshen, Indiana, at that hour. I had him standby and called the FBO. They were closed for the night. I asked if he was low on fuel and wanted to declare an emergency. He said no, but asked me to check around other airports heading north from Goshen. He started sounding a little nervous, so after calling two other airports, I called Kalamazoo approach.
They confirmed there was fuel available at that hour and gave me a squawk for the aircraft. The pilot dialed it in and Kalamazoo confirmed they had him on radar. He admitted he had minimum fuel, but at that point he was close enough to make it in.
Was this an emergency? The pilot did not say so, but once I heard nervousness in his voice, I treated it as one just as all air traffic control personnel are directed to do whenever the potential for an emergency exists. He had set out with headwinds and thought he had enough fuel to get to northern Michigan – a common mistake.
When ATC feels there is a possible emergency situation brewing, they take several actions. If possible, the first one is to offload all other traffic on frequency to another controller so they can concentrate on the needs of the aircraft in difficulty.
A lot of the calls we get at Flight Service are from student pilots. Thank goodness for instructors who “beat” into their trainees’ brains to call flight service immediately if they get lost. The first solo cross country flight is scary in a lot of ways and a lot worse things could happen to a student than being too embarrassed to call for help.
When I worked in El Paso, Texas, there was an international flight school in Las Cruces, New Mexico. As part of the curriculum, the instructors routinely required the students to call Flight Service and request a practice DF steer (remember those?). They memorized 121.5MHz as the emergency frequency. As a result when the students really got in trouble, they knew whom and how to call for help. One day I got a call from a student – he was lost and below radar coverage. It turned out he was 50 miles southeast of El Paso – in Mexican airspace. Once I told him that and got him turned north, he also mentioned he was low on fuel.
While I spoke to the pilot, my co-workers called his flight school, US Customs and Border Patrol, and Air Defense radar to make sure everyone was aware that this was an emergency situation – even though the pilot did not declare it. This was not just a case of “minimum fuel” because of the potential for an international incident.
IFR or VFR, civilian or military, emergencies are taken very seriously by all levels of ATC. Controllers are run though various scenarios during their training. Tower personnel have direct lines to their emergency equipment on the field. Flight Service specialists are taught several methods of locating lost aircraft using the navigation equipment on board your aircraft and keep VFR sectionals available to help with identifying local terrain.
All facets of Air Traffic must go through refresher training annually on how to handle hijackings, bomb threats, and several other potentially dangerous scenarios. They know that when an emergency is declared, the pilot will feel much more confident if the voice he is listening to maintains a calm and logical tone.
Who can declare an emergency? The pilot, the aircraft owner, or an air traffic controller handling the aircraft. If possible, the first thing we do is ask the pilot to squawk 7700 on his transponder. If the aircraft is lost this is the fastest way to find him if he is within radar coverage. We determine the pilot’s desires, and then obtain enough information to handle the emergency intelligently. The primary civilian frequency for emergencies is 121.5MHz, but we will work with an aircraft no matter what frequency he calls.
Whomever the pilot has contacted is supposed to keep him on their frequency unless a transfer to a different facility is in the best interests of the pilot. We try to keep communications open, but not overwhelming to someone who already is dealing with a stressful situation.
Once the situation is resolved, documentation is made by ATC and the specialist’s handling of the incident is analyzed. Excellent responses prompt positive recognition for the specialist; if performance needs improving, the specialists may get more training. It is gratifying and helpful when a pilot sends a compliment to the facility.
Whether your emergency is mechanical, weather related, being lost or some other factor, do not be shy about calling ATC. We take pride in helping you get home safely.
NOTE: Last month I reported that the FAA intended to implement ICAO standards to the entire NOTAM system this coming spring. The first part of that began in November with a few types of NOTAMs being affected. As of the last half of December the FAA decided to extend the date of implementation for the rest of the NOTAM changes to spring of 2013.
Rose Marie Kern has worked in ATC for over 28 years. If you’d like to ask Rose a question send her an email at author@rosemariekern.com