For my non-av friends, heres something I just wrote to a friend who asked about the circumstances surrounding the TBM900 crash today, and about the pilots responsibilities during an emergency: You are correct: Aviate > Navigate > Communicate. Keep the plane flying safely, preferably in the direction where you want it to go, and then tell someone what you’re doing, in that order. That’s why the term is pilot in command: ultimately, the pilot has sole authority and control to do what is necessary to stay flying and alive, period. That sounds like common sense (and it is!) but a lot of pilots have died after deferring to the authority of others when confronted with an emergency situation. From what is known so far, I strongly believe this pilot was just conscious enough to understand that something was wrong, and to request the descent – but, not completely cognizant to the urgency of his situation to actively remedy it. Had he recognized the severity of what was happening, the pilot would have immediately began a descent, even before telling ATC what he was doing. (The proper procedure, if able, is to command the autopilot to descend and hold the correct lower altitude, so even if the pilot does lose consciousness on the way down, the plane would recover and keep flying in breathable air.) Had he declared an emergency, the pilot would have legally had free rein to do whatever needed to be done to rectify the situation, and ATC’s only purpose at that point would have been to keep traffic away from him. Even without declaring, however, ATC would have recognized that something was seriously wrong, and kept the airspace clear for him anyway. Just an extremely sad situation and outcome all around.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 20:57:20 +0000
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