Emergency descent ( mountainous terrain )

[1jz]

If an emergency descent - contingency procedure has to be developed by an airline for mountainous terrain. What documents would be helpful? And are there any approved procedures which get off track the airways / ats routes and fly an off airway route to the destination that keeps away from the high terrain?

[Brian 48nav]

I suggest that the best place to get the answer would be on one of the airline or technical sections.

For what it is worth, I was shown the flight deck of the Airbus 380 at the recent Farnborough Air Show and asked the test pilot that very question ie if you have an engine or engines failure at night or IMC over high ground how do you plan your Driftdown?

Their 'Sat-Nav' has maps of the whole world that show high ground and sector safety altitudes.

[Piltdown Man]

The most useful tool is the operational flight plan with minimum en-route altitudes, but in order to use it, you have to fly towards your planned track. En-route (airways) charts are now so small and tightly packed with scrawl and scribble they are about as much use a chocolate teapot. The next best is an arrival chart for a nearby airfield which will hopefully provide a lower level than the flight plan. Failing that, the en-route chart with some help from ATC.

PM

[Matey]

A perfect example of the requirement for "Situational Awareness." This would be covered by an enroute brief where Minimum Flight Altitudes along the route would be highlighted, and cross referenced to altitude capability with an engine or pressurisation failure. On our route network (UK Holiday Airline) the pressurisation failure case would usually be more limiting and any areas with a sustained minimimum flight altitude above 10000 feet would have an "oxygen escape route" published to allow for either a continuation along the route or a turn back where terrain versus oxygen on board precluded that. Printed Operational Flight Plans contain information regarding minimum safe altitude 10 miles either side of flight plan track. In the event of flying on direct routes outside those criteria then a reversion to paper charts and/or on board terrain displays would be used to maintain situational awareness.

[1jz]

Thanks all for such useful replies. Actually what I am looking for is that - Is there any airline that has a contingency procedure approved by the regulating authority, which takes the aircraft off ats route / airway to avoid high terrain?