The strange reasons why United pilots declare emergencies
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Not sure what relevance the right HF Transceiver has for an FMC problem - can someone enlighten me?
I am aware that some other B767 operators have problems with their FMC dumping data when the crew try to enter the SLOP at the start of the Oceanic leg, including the alternate FPLN. The manufacturer's advice was to leave 5 minutes between starting the leg and entering the offset, but that doesn't work either. The pilot I spoke to said crews were using heading hold while they manually entered the remainder of their route into the system. Painful, but less so than a MAYDAY and diversion?
I am aware that some other B767 operators have problems with their FMC dumping data when the crew try to enter the SLOP at the start of the Oceanic leg, including the alternate FPLN. The manufacturer's advice was to leave 5 minutes between starting the leg and entering the offset, but that doesn't work either. The pilot I spoke to said crews were using heading hold while they manually entered the remainder of their route into the system. Painful, but less so than a MAYDAY and diversion?
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Declaring an emergency seems to be influenced a lot by corp culture (and other cultural influences). From an unscientific sample using flightradar24, AF declares a lot, American airlines a moderate amount (considering their high traffic) AA the most, followed by UA and DL. The sample is also skewed by flightradar24 coverage areas...
Some airlines will declare an emergency, with trucks rolled etc, but never squawk 7700 - LY for example on several recent occasions at BGN.
It would be interesting for someone with more statistical knowledge than I to analyze the data from flightradar24 or another source. To be fair, the one time I declared I was already in the Class C, and I didn't change my squawk either.
Some airlines will declare an emergency, with trucks rolled etc, but never squawk 7700 - LY for example on several recent occasions at BGN.
It would be interesting for someone with more statistical knowledge than I to analyze the data from flightradar24 or another source. To be fair, the one time I declared I was already in the Class C, and I didn't change my squawk either.
One thing that always amuses me is the number of times I hear a airline report severe turbulance over the Atlantic. I think a lot of pilots need to review the definition of severe turbulance. In addition anytime you state you have encountered severe turbulance a logbook entry is required and a aircraft inspection which can be quite lengthy is required. This step seems to be skipped quite often.
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And for those in a fake tizzy, demanding to know where I work so they won't fly on that airline(as if it is really the case as I know you will buy the cheapest ticket), would you find it surprising if I told you UA.
Last edited by JammedStab; 27th Sep 2016 at 15:35.
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Declaring an emergency is a way to get from ATC what you want / need. It also gets you attention. They did the right thing, not getting cooperation from ATC for whatever reasons. If you don't get it, demand it.
Our airline preaches to declare emergency if we think we need it. If it turns out we don't, you can always downgrade it to a pan-pan.
Better safe than sorry - declaring an emergency is mostly paper work. And who doesn't love that, right?
Our airline preaches to declare emergency if we think we need it. If it turns out we don't, you can always downgrade it to a pan-pan.
Better safe than sorry - declaring an emergency is mostly paper work. And who doesn't love that, right?
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I overheard a United pilot at YYZ demand a new squawk code because the one the computer gave him was 6066, you know, three 6's means the Devil! That was strange!
