View Full Version : Short of fuel - emergency call/UK
It is my SOP/understanding that if I THINK I will land with less than final reserve I declare a 'Panne' and if I WILL do so I declare a 'Mayday'.
I was discussing this with a co-pilot the other day, and he said "Where is this written?". I don't know! I know it is in a lot of airline SOPs, and JAROPS just requires, I believe, an unspecified 'emergency call' for the latter case.
Can anyone give me a regulatory reference for the required calls for both situations or is it down to airlines?
Spitoon
16th Jul 2008, 16:58
What the airline does will be determined by their Ops Manual (and what the CAA lets them get away with in it!), SOPs and their Commander's decision.
For ATC, the MATS Part 1 - in Section 1 Chapter 4 - says:
10.3.1 Pilots who announce that their aircraft is short of fuel are to confirm that they are declaring an emergency before being given priority over other flights. Similarly, pilots who allude to medical emergencies on board, for example a sick passenger, but who do not formally declare an emergency or indicate that the person on board is seriously ill, shall be asked by ATC to confirm that they are declaring an emergency. In the absence of such a declaration, controllers are not required to give priority to the flight.
There's also an AIC (http://www.nats-uk.ead-it.com/aip/current/aic/pink/EG_Circ_2003_P_082_en.pdf) on the topic which, amongst other things, says that in the UK anyway, no delay really means up to 20 minutes delay.
Thanks, S - aware of that/those and it all makes sense - to me. I was hoping to 're-inforce' what I see as commonsense with a reference, for someone 'newer'. Personally I cannot see how you can think you might be heading into a 'Mayday' situation without declaring a 'Panne'! Current company Ops Manual has nothing. BA was specific -'Panne' then 'Mayday'.
I can see nothing in the regs at the moment that even ACTUALLY require, specifically a 'Mayday', with 'less than reserve'.
Spitoon
16th Jul 2008, 19:31
I think that's because there isn't anything in the regs - it's all just guidance.
There's always a possibility that the CAA Flight Ops Dept decides that it wants all operators to put something in the Ops Manual and won't approve/accept the doc without it....but won't make it a regulation. But they don't seem to be doing that.