Quote:
Originally Posted by BeaglePilot
Spend some time here flying in and out of JFK and you'll understand how things work here.
Beagle,
I've spent plenty of time flying as a regional pilot into NYC airports and other busy class B, including ORD and JFK. I also understand the various intricacies of how ATC/Operations choose runways and such...
That said, I don't have an issue with a crew declaring an emergency or exercising their authority... (Too many pilots are afraid to ask for help or declare an emergency or take whatever actions they need). I have refused runways at ORD and other busy class B airports due to tailwinds or crosswind limitations.
I just wonder if they weren't too far involved if they waited until the point where they had to maneuver at the last minute and force ATC into moving traffic to declare or at least let ATC know they had an issue.
I don't know about you guys, but if I'm starting to eat into my legal reserve fuel, I'm starting to pay real close attention to the situation and all of my alternatives. If I get into VFR reserves (below 30 minutes of fuel), I'm going to be letting ATC know that I want priority handling, especially if I'm flying into an airport like JFK. I would imagine that AA has some sort of established protocol on fuel reserves and bingo fuel. Pulling up the flight aware history for this flight it looks like AA2 on 5/4 held for a bit, but overall the flight wasn't that much longer than most of the other flights.
Folks are right when they say ATC doesn't dictate what you can and can't do with your aircraft. But the flip side is that we as pilots often don't see the big picture when it comes to traffic management and operational flow. Just because your TCAS doesn't show a target out there doesn't mean that it's safe to just go barrelling through some of the busiest airspace in the Northeast because you let the situtation deteriorate too far.
As the old adage goes: "A superior pilot uses his superior judgment to avoid having to exercise his superior skill." How far were these guys going to burn into their comfort level before they rose the red flag?
What would have happened if on short final to 22L (300'AGL) the aircraft holding short crossed the hold short line and AAL2 had to go around? Would they have sidestepped to the taxiway? Manuevered at 500' for one of the other runways? Run out of fuel climbing back to pattern altitude?
Without all of the facts its tough to determine. IF (and I state this with a big IF since we don't know all the facts), but IF the crew got to the point where they were so tight on fuel that they couldn't go around, declare an emergency and get priority handling back to the field/runway of their choice, IMHO, they waited WAAAAAY to long to exercise their authority.