Hi everyone,
I started reading this board after googling info on dispatchers and their jobs - I'm coming up on retirement eligibility from the FAA, and I'm looking for that post-retirement job. However, I read this thread, and I wanted to toss a couple of thoughts out, though I really don't want to turn this into an ATC debate:
Originally Posted by MEM_ATC
SITUATION 1 - Pilot tells ATC that his Number X hydraulic system has failed. NEGATIVE emergency, but he wants the emergency equipment "STANDING BY".
OK, remember here that it's not only the pilot that can declare an emergency. I can as a controller, as can the operator of the aircraft. In this case, as soon as you say you want the emergency gear standing by, I'm now considering the situation an emergency. "Say souls on board and fuel remaining in pounds!".
Originally Posted by MEM_ATC
SITUATION 4 - A cargo hauler tells the Center that he has fumes in the cockpit. It's not an emergency, but the crew is on oxygen. The pilot does not want the emergency equipment standing by.
Fumes in the cockpit and the crew's on O2? No question, I just declared an emergency, "Say souls on board and fuel remaining in pounds!".
Originally Posted by MEM_ATC
SITUATION 5 - Aircraft goes around on short final due to an unsafe gear indication. We tell the pilot that the gear appear to be down and locked, and the crew then performs some checklist items on the downwind as they are being vectored back for landing. The pilot wants the emergency equipment "standing by, but does not want to declare an emergency.
See #1. If a pilot indicates that he wants emergency equipment out, it's an emergency as far as I am concerned. What's that catch phrase? Oh yeah, "Say souls on board and fuel remaining in pounds!" (gets monotonous, huh?)
In 22 years of ATC I've run the gamut from lost C150s to turbojets engines on fire or various parts falling off (like the DC-8 that lost a JT8D - completely departed the aircraft - and the Lear 35 that dropped a left main gear assembly on the runway). When bad stuff, or stuff I even think might be bad, it's handled as an emergency. No one has to tell me yea or nay.
Aloha!