Accident Analysis: May days

Yes, calling “Mayday!” on every circuit around the pattern will likely get you a reexamination (also known as a “709 ride”), but if the flight’s continuation to a safe landing somewhere is less than certain, requesting emergency assistance is the better part of valor. The AOPA Air Safety Institute’s Accident Case Study: Final Approach documents the case of a current instrument pilot who found lower-than-expected weather over a wide geographic area. He missed three approaches to two different airports, reported being low on fuel, and then attempted to divert to a third. Five minutes after a Dover Air Force Base controller hinted that the pilot could only land there “in an emergency,” the pilot declared one—after his airplane’s engine quit from fuel exhaustion. He went down two miles short of Dover’s Runway 14.

That accident demonstrated that an emergency declaration isn’t a “get-out-of-jail-free” card. It won’t put fuel in the tanks, extinguish a fire, free a jammed flight control, or enable ATC to fly the aircraft, much less suspend the laws of physics.

Among the things ATC can do for an aircraft in distress are:

If continuation to a safe landing is less than certain, requesting emergency assistance is the better part of valor.Prioritize services. A rough-running engine, an onboard medical crisis, fuel less than reserves, or accumulating ice are among the many reasons to land as soon as possible. ATC can move other aircraft out of the way while providing vectors to an airport and step-down altitudes, allowing the pilot(s) to devote full attention to the sole task of flying.

Summon help. Any unplanned off-field landing risks injury. Every hour lost in locating the site and getting EMS crews onto the scene diminishes the odds of survival—especially during winter in unforgiving climates, where hypothermia quickly becomes life-threatening. Scrambling search-and-rescue efforts—perhaps even before the aircraft is down—improves those odds. And if it’s an on-airport emergency landing, having the crash trucks at the ready can determine whether the occupants are successfully extricated.

Locate the lost. Widespread GPS availability hasn’t prevented pilots from losing track of their whereabouts. Panel-mounted units aren’t universal, and portable devices can have their batteries run down, or get dropped into places that are inaccessible in flight. Where there’s ADS-B coverage, ATC can locate equipped aircraft with exquisite precision. If there’s radar coverage, even transponderless craft aren’t necessarily out of luck. Old-fashioned methods like the surveillance approach remain in the controllers’ bags of tricks.

Recruit expertise. ASI’s Real Pilot Story: Pinch Hitting a King Air relates how a low-time Cessna 172 pilot successfully landed a Beechcraft King Air 200 after its pilot became incapacitated during climb, thanks in large part to guidance from a longtime flight instructor and Learjet pilot now working as a Miami Center controller. Not all controllers have experience on the controls, but many have extensive contacts.

And all will do whatever they can to help prevent emergencies from becoming catastrophes. It’s up to us to give them a fair chance.