Air traffic controllers can offer vital assistance to aircraft in distress, but they’re not magicians. They can’t take the controls after the pilot becomes disoriented, restart an engine, or deice the airframe. The things they can do include providing vectors to possible landing sites, diverting conflicting traffic, and triggering search-and-rescue efforts. Knowing what is and isn’t available should help to inform the decision to call for help in time for it to do some good.
A surprising number of pilots don’t seem to have worked this out. Search the NTSB accident narratives for “Mayday,” and the most common finding is the statement that “No mayday call was made by the pilot.” Sometimes things just happen too quickly—think stalls in the traffic pattern—but these also include instances in which outside help could have made a difference.
Some who do call wait until the situation is completely out of hand before shouting “Mayday, mayday, mayday!” That seems to have been the case in the recent destruction of a Piper Lance in California and a Cessna Citation in Utah, both of which broke up in flight after their pilots apparently succumbed to spatial disorientation. Their mayday calls were their last transmissions.
The most distressing examples are those where someone tried to get help but didn’t know how to ask. In June 2014, a VFR pilot took off on a 15-mile positioning flight more than two hours after receiving an abbreviated weather briefing that reviewed current conditions—but not the terminal forecast. Finding himself in instrument conditions, he radioed ATC to say, “I need your help, sir…I just don’t have visibility.” When the controller asked if he was declaring an emergency, he didn’t reply—then, about a minute later, the pilot reported that he was returning to the departure airport. The controller directed him to squawk VFR at about the time the airplane began spiraling in from 1,300 feet. The NTSB pointed out that because he didn’t declare an emergency or report that he wasn’t capable of instrument flight, the controller likely assumed that he could maintain VFR and so didn’t offer any extra assistance.
No one takes off expecting to encounter an emergency, but help may be there if it happens. It’s most effective if requested before the situation becomes dire—while those things controllers can actually do may still be helpful.
