What would happen if

[doublesix]

Purely a question out of interest here.

If an airliner was on approach to an airport having declared a full emergency and a second aircraft on the approach also declared an emergency,what would the procedure be?

I'm thinking along the lines of fire cover. If the first aircraft required the services of the fire brigade for whatever reason would there always be sufficient cover available to cover the second aircraft.

Would it be conceivable that one of the two aircraft would be asked to divert to an alternate, (eg Heathrow to Gatwick)?

I know its a very unlikely scenario, but just out of interest.

[Avman]

You just choose your favourite airline :E

[JEM60]

Reminds me of the time when an F.16 declared shortish of fuel, and was asked to follow a B.52 with an engine out. The F.16 driver dryly replied 'Oh, that will be the dreaded seven engine approach then':)

[reportyourlevel]

Really it all depends on the situation. "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday" takes priority over "Pan Pan, Pan Pan, Pan Pan" but other than that there are no hard and fast rules. Have a read of this document (http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAP745.PDF).

[Hyperborean]

That's the day the ATCO earns his crust. It does happen, thankfully only very rarely, and you really have to get your priorities right. In my case I experienced it very early in my training; a comet on full emergency with a (serious, like couple of hundred kilos total ) fuel shortage was crossing the threshold when the approach man called on the intercom, "That's your full emergency at 8 miles." When I responded , " No he's not he's just landing." I was told somewhat curtly, "This is another one!"
Having given my age away I have to say that that was a rather unusual day, multiple divs in as half of Europe went SNOCLO and when my mentor and I came back from tea and a discussion, we had a trident with a runaway trim problem. Nearly as much fun as EGPD where you could give EATs to Royal flights as they could come in bunches too.

[SloppyJoe]

I assume they would have to improvise a bit and if one guy had a cargo fire and the other had a non fire related emergency most appliances would be waiting for the cargo fire, assuming they had two or more runways. If there was only one runway I expect the one that could land first would do so and the other would have to sort it out somehow as it is the PIC that would be the one who would land and not the fire services or other participating departments, I know if I had declared an emergency and heard someone else behind me do the same and if I was told to wait till the other aircraft landed I would ignore that and land anyway as to declare an emergency means your flight is in serious trouble. I am sure however that you would ignore the sop of remaining on the runway in certain circumstances such as a fire and give the following aircraft a chance to get on the ground. I doubt there are many rules about this and it is more of a try your best type scenario.

[NudgingSteel]

The main ATC issue would be if the first one blocked the runway. Assuming it didn't, you'd just pass all the details of the second emergency to the AFS and all other relevant parties, just as you had the first one, and they'd then decide how to allocate their resources.

Two small planes not on fire: probably plenty of cover.
Two big ones on fire: probably not enough cover. Chances of that: hopefully too slim to worry about!

[dwshimoda]

...agreed.

Plus by this stage, all local RFF would have been scrambled, so I would hope to be approaching an absolute sea of flashing blue beacons, with a 45m*3000m gap inbetween!

[bobward]

When I was training a few years ago, we had an engine problem and needed to get back to our base airport PDQ. Running down the approach I could see a half dozen fire trucks, ambulances and police all sitting there waiting for us. Bearing in mind we were in a Piper Tomahawk (two seats) that did seem a bit of overkill.

Air Traffic told us that this was the standard call out for any in flight emergency. Nice to know the blokes could react that quickly on a Sunday morning though.

If anyone from EGSH is reading this - a belated thank you for a job well done!
:ok:

[HXdave]

Ok, this may sound like a silly question, but might fit into this scenario.

say for example single runway airport and 2 emergencies. first aircraft lands and blocks the runway - would the second aircraft be allowed to land on a parralell taxiway to the runway, should one be available?

of course i would imagine this to be a final option (such as landing in the hudson), and ideally an alternative airport would be better if it was possible to get there, but thats not always the case.

[Avman]

I feel a hollywood blockbuster movie coming on!

[windypops]

Slightly creeping away as you specified "airliner" but from the point of you of a a light twin driver, if you've reached commital height (with one engine out) and selected the last stage of flaps you are committed to land, period. I was given this in the sim during my multi engine training and I landed on the grass parallel to the runway, in the de-brief it was confirmed it was the correct action. If I had tried to Go Around after commital I would have received a b0llocking.

If I was in a light twin and had shut an engine down and heard another aircraft with an emergency I would seriously consider diverting to somewhere else. If I had an uncontrolled fire on the other hand, well I aint hanging about as you've got minutes to get on the deck, whether that be land or water.

[doublesix]

Thanks for the replies guys

[windypops]

Apologise, I have amended my post as I hadn't made clear that the committal height referred to asymmetric flight. With both engines working it's not a problem to go around at any phase of the approach or landing.