Originally Posted by
bubbers44
If this happened on our flight we would have immediately initiated an emergency descent, then called ATC if we had an explosive decompression. If it was not explosive then deal with it as required.
It is ATC's job to separate traffic, not read a pilots mind on how serious the situation is and compromise his traffic separation.
Having worked as a 'Distress and Diversion' controller in the UK I have dealt with many emergencies. One of the problems that controllers routinely face is the unwillingness of pilots to actually declare an emergency. The job of ATC is stated as maintaining: "The Safe, Expeditious and Orderly flow of air traffic." Safety is
NOT solely limited to deconfliction of aircraft it is anything that the controller can do to maintain safety of the aircraft this
includes (but is not limited to) flow management, weather alerts, closing hazardous airspace, and of course responding to and providing all necessary assistance to aircraft in distress - and yes, deconfliction and sequencing.
In this case, the pilot had asked to descend, said there was something wrong, then started being less than coherent. If a controller cannot understand from that set of transmissions that there is a probable oxygen problem then perhaps a little retraining is in order. What the controller SHOULD have done as soon as it became apparent that the pilot was not with it, is just transmit
"<<Callsign>> expedite descent 8000 ft " and repeat that --don't even worry about the altimeter setting that can come once the pilot is responding more sensibly. Then as the aircraft is descending things can be sorted out like deviating other traffic. Meanwhile your D-Side should be giving a point out to the low sector alerting them of the probable emergency that is dropping into their airspace on your sector's frequency.
Pilots should also stop being reticent about declaring an emergency. If you have a busy or slow controller and you are indirect about a problem then you will not get any priority. Put your transponder to 7700 that wakes up _everyone_ including the center supervisors, declare PAN or MAYDAY then everyone will clear out of your way and provide assistance. You will not get assistance with a '
Houston we have a problem' transmission on a busy frequency. If you have a pressurization and oxygen failure then it is imperative you descend immediately in the few seconds of useful consciousness you have left using the FMC if possible to give a safe level off. By all means turn 30 degrees off an air route but you do not have time to be clever, you will just become comatose and that is the wrong choice for everyone. At FL280 even at 4000fpm you are going to take 3 to 4 minutes to get to a level with sufficient oxygen to wake you up as you will probably lose consciousness on the way down.
In this case had the pilot transmitted: "MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY this is <callsign> in emergency descent to 8000ft with a pressurization problem - standby" then squawked 7700. He and his wife would almost certainly have been alive today.