Is it appropriate/legal to radio ATC in case of civil unrest?
What are the legalities/implications of contacting an ATC by radio if you are not flying but see a potentially hazardous situation?
Late morning there was a full-on, milspec shootout in Brazzaville with mortars, 12.7mm machine guns, lots of AK47 fire, an Mi24 circling for three hours. Even though I am across the river, I could clearly see and hear the explosions and gunfire and see the smoke. The event was taking place to the E of FCBB, and was later ascribed to a disaffected colonel.
During this time ATC operated as if nothing was happening, providing clearances to all departures and arrivals with no warnings or any other notices about potential hazards. I was shocked when I heard a clearance delivered to a KQ flight to FZAA, and couldn’t believe that this aircraft was departing from 05, and thus flying right over the trouble. Only a Rwandair flight was turned around, its dispatch instructing the crew to return to Libreville, giving only “security issues” as the cause.
So I wondered: I watching/listening to all of this with my handheld VHF (I’m a PPL), do I call ATC and ask if they know what is going on? If they are telling other pilots that they should turn and burn, or depart on 22 to avoid the troubled areas? But I demurred because I am wary of causing an incident, and because maybe ATC knows something I don’t so just chill.
But to return to the question raised in the opening para, reagrdless of how one judges the situation, what are the legalities/implications of calling ATC or an aircraft directly in a similar (or worse) situation?