Connetts
On the run at the moment so I will have to tuck into a couple of the your questions in the next few days. You did however, bring out a good point. Even with all the good planning and situational awareness of divert fields, if an ETOPS divert is made and at the last moment the chosen field comes to grief, then it will get very interesting...and that means problematic.
Say for instance that all was well with the Delta flight until such time that they had to shut down one of the engines. For discussion purposes (this real divert might have been very different) say they flew for two hours to Ascension, dumped fuel, and then prepared to land. Whist circling around, say our good friends from the RAF land and have a serious malfunction that closes the runway. Well, it would be too late for the Delta flight to pursue a course to another airport and thus the problematic nature of the planning.
Granted I doubt the tower would have allowed any movement whilst Delta was inbound with an emergency, but I use this only to show the thought that at some point during the divert other options will be closed for good.
ETOPS flights do, and should, require attention to detail as you never know when you are going to need a safe harbor.
The other point that you mentioned is a bit trickier and deserves some good input from those who fly under a lot of different governing authorities.
That point of course is what to do when you have to shut down an engine on a two engine transport. For U.S. air carriers we have to land at the nearest suitable airport in time. Now there is a lot of meat in the word "suitable" that is open to pilot and dispatcher discussion, but the idea is that one must land the airplane as soon as it is safe and reasonable to do so. If one overflies suitable airports there is going to be a tea and biscuit time in the office. This applies to ETOPS flights as well.
3 and 4 engine aircraft have different rules as do flights that are not "airline" (Part 121 in the U.S. for example) operations.
Yes, the ETOPS discussion is an interesting one and often teases out some very subtle points to consider.
Last edited by Uncle Fred; 12th Jan 2013 at 20:24.