Questions tagged [emergency]
An emergency is any situation that threatens the safety of an aircraft, the people on board it, or people on the ground.
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Why use a RAT when engines can windmill?
When a dual engine flame-out is encountered, and the engines themselves are not damaged such as in the case of Air Transat Flight 236, why is the RAT deployed for emergency power instead of using the ...
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Why are emergency parachutes for pilots so heavy?
Parachute technology doesn't seem to have got much lighter in the past few decades. It seems that most emergency parachutes designed for pilots still weigh about 15 lb. And yet a Cirrus BRS designed ...
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Have the terms Mayday and Pan Pan become less used?
I've noticed listening to videos of emergencies that pilots simply say that their declaring an emergency vs saying Mayday. Am I wrong?
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Would twin-engine airplanes be safer (in case of engine failure) if had minimal dihedral?
In the specific context of the sudden failure of one engine, would twin-engine airplanes (with wing-mounted engines) be safer if designed with minimal dihedral, so that aerodynamic coupling between ...
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What causes a jet airliner (with a yaw damper) to roll toward the "weaker" engine during an asymmetrical thrust condition?
Please help me better understand what causes a jet airliner (such as the Boeing 737-500) to roll toward the "weaker" engine when power is reduced on one side.
Such as in the situations ...
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Are distress calls used in simulators?
Would a pilot flying in a flight simulator with VATSIM make a mayday call in a scenario in which a pilot in a real plane would?
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Why is it fairly common for the same aircraft to declare two emergencies, usually radio failures, in less than an hour?
I get notifications from FlightRadar24 whenever a plane squawks 7600 or 7700. It happens a lot; I've received eight today. (It seems like more happen on weekends than on weekdays, probably because ...
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Will all turbine blades stop moving in the event of a emergency shutdown?
In the event of an emergency shutdown of an engine (while in the air),
are there systems which prevent movement of turbines (brakes) in case of internal damage?
Or will that cause aerodynamic drag ...
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Are airliners designed to land safely with no undercarriage deployed?
Complete undercarriage failure ("belly landing") is very rare in large passenger aircraft, but not unprecedented.
(source)
I would imagine it would be fairly easy to predict which part of ...
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Is it permissible to have exit row with ordinary seat spacing?
I was recently flying a flight with an exit row seat on the overwing exit.
I was expecting increased seat spacing for this row but to my surprise the seat spacing seemed exactly the same as rows ahead ...
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How do Pistons vs. Turbines fare during a Carrington event?
Electromagnetic pulses are a staple in sci-fi, and they're basically the writers' hand-waving of "deletes technology" weapons. This question asks about whether or not GA motors would ...
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Difficulties of landing an airliner without instruments
I just heard the communications from an Embraer E170 that lost all instruments after takeoff and had to return to the airport.
Brickyard E170
Can someone explain the procedure from the pilot's ...
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From a safety standpoint, which is better: voice aural alerts or tone aural alerts?
Most modern airplanes have some sort of crew alerting system. These alerts are generally conveyed through display messages, lights, and aural alerts. Aural alerts can either be tones or voices. For ...
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Why did the ATI B763 on May 26th 2022 return to LAX instead of landing at Naval Base Ventura County?
Looking at
it seems they were right there, they had an emergency, surely even a civilian airplane can land at a naval base in an emergency. I know 767-300ERs used to ...
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Minimum Safe Altitude vs Emergency Safe Altitude
Is there a difference between Minimum Safe Altitude and Emergency Safe Altitude? Or are they same things used by different authorities (MSA by EASA and ESA by FAA)?
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After declaring an emergency can a pilot legally resume normal navigation without landing?
If a pilot declares an emergency and then in the process of working with ATC is able to resolve the issue, would they then be able to resume normal navigation (as a non-emergency aircraft) and ...
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Could an airliner pilot successfully exit alone from a controlled ocean ditching?
MH370's 777 disappeared into the Indian Ocean, the investigation positing a possibility of a pilot self-hijacking the plane and flying until resource exhaustion, then gliding into a "controlled&...
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What is the minimum altitude needed to return to the takeoff airport in a 737 after dual engine failure?
Last week, I had my first lesson in a 737 sim. The instructor, when talking about risks with flying the 737, said the only time it would be "game over", would be if you had a double engine ...
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Why don't [most] sailplanes use whole-airplane / ballistic parachutes?
My understanding is that sailplanes usually have the pilots wear the parachute on their back, requiring the pilot to bail out of the aircraft before they can use the parachute.
Given the maturity of ...
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Are the emergency exits on a Boeing 747-400 plug doors?
Rossiya Airlines flight FV5625 to Antalya suffered an incident at the gate when a passenger opened an emergency exit (seems to be the L3 door, from what I can tell) "because they felt too hot&...
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Which flight maneuver is better for a takeoff emergency after liftoff, a tear drop (180° turn) or a 360° turn?
Let us say I got a time critical emergency right after the liftoff (like a fire, complete power loss) and I need do a return-to-runway and re-land maneuver. Which option is better, a 180-degree turn ...
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What should a pilot do if none of the control surfaces are responding? [closed]
What would a pilot do if none of the control surfaces are responding?
For example, a pilot flies a medium-sized plane and to make the situation a bit less hectic, they're the only one onboard. Then ...
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Why are cockpit alarms still so distracting and unable to be silenced?
I'm watching video RV 10 N783V My 1st Emergency
At 8:45 a stall alarm goes off and is a horrible piercing whistle. Why? Surely the pilot has enough distractions without also being deafened while ...
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Engine out over a mountain road. Do you land upwind or up hill?
You're flying solo in a late-model, fixed-gear Cessna 172 with half-full fuel tanks. You are at 1000 feet AGL, 100 knots indicated, directly above the middle of a 2000 foot long straight section of ...
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How often do talk-down landings go wrong?
There are some well documented stories of non-pilots successfully landing airplanes after the pilot was incapacitated. Usually this involves radio assistance by ATC and/or flight instructors.
My ...
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If an NORDO airplane approaches and attempts a landing on a controlled airport, is that an automatic emergency?
The airplane never has any communication with ATC etc. but approaches and heads for landing correctly on a controlled airport will that by regulations automatically lead to clearing airspace and ...
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What is MCAS' purpose? [duplicate]
In a recent question, one of the answers states:
MCAS has nothing whatsoever to do with stall recovery or stall behaviour.
It was implemented strictly to make the MAX's pitch stick force response in ...
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How can I communicate an emergency de-pressurization descent to the cabin as a passenger?
Hypothetical scenario. I'm on a commercial airliner (A320) as a passenger, sitting by the wings. We are cruising at 32,000. The oxygen masks suddenly drop down and the nose pitches down heavily, ...
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What is typical ATC procedure when a non-pilot calls from a commercial flight for help?
"This is ShinyWings 123, I'm not a pilot, the pilot and copilot are unconscious. Help."
Probably a day air traffic controllers dream of with dread, when a member of cabin crew, or even worse,...
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Seatbelt safety and quick release [closed]
Seatbelts, are said to be the object that causes the most deaths in emergency situations on airplanes. (this part is hearsay, just ancillary! :) )
I free-dive, and one of the rules we were taught is ...
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Is it practical to intentionally stall an aircraft to execute a fast, controlled descent?
An MD-11 had an onboard fire, but had to request more flying distance at least partly to execute a safe descent (and to dump fuel). It ended in tragedy.
In another accident, an A330 descended 30,000 ...
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Is it possible for squawk to change automatically in emergency situations?
It might be a silly question, but is it possible for an airliner to automatically switch the squawk code to emergency (7700) during a flight? (For example in case of losing all engines)
Thank You In ...
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Does the FAA generally consider a door opening in an unpressurized cabin during flight to be an emergency?
Sometimes doors pop open on older training aircraft during flight.
I've read some indications from poorly-documented sources suggesting that this is considered an emergency, but it doesn't appear ...
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Could COVID19 be considered as an ICAO abnormal or emergency situation? [closed]
Could COVID19 be considered as an abnormal or emergency situation as defined by ICAO:
Abnormal Situation:
A condition concerning the safety of an aircraft or other vehicle, or of some person on board ...
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How close to the envelope and the ideal was US1549 on ditching in the Hudson?
I assume that for "water landing" an airplane should be configured for the lowest possible stall speed, and then flown to that speed before impact to minimize the energy to dissipate on impact.
What ...
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Why does the FAA ban preboarding passengers from sitting in emergency-exit rows?
Of the several restrictions every U.S. airline passenger knows about regarding who can and can’t sit in an aircraft’s emergency-exit rows (no one under 15, or physically disabled, or travelling with ...
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What should a pilot do if he does not know where he is and has no form of communication? [closed]
I know this is an almost impossible situation, but... Imagine that a pilot is kidnapped and placed inside a Cessna plane. At a certain point the kidnapper jumps out of the plane, destroying the radio ...
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Why isn't landing in the water a good option in an emergency? [duplicate]
Some people say that landing on water should be considered as a last resort because it is dangerous. But why exactly is it dangerous to land an airplane in the water? Wouldn't it be safer since ...
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How likely is it that there is someone knowledgeable about piloting in a flight control room?
I saw a reasonably looking video about a non-pilot trying to land a plane with the help of a flight control tower (in a simulator):
(it is in French).
I believe that ...
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Why isn't runway 4L/22R at KMDW available as an emergency runway?
Chicago-Midway (MDW/KMDW) has five runways, oriented along the diagonals of the square airport. The longest two (13C/31C [1988 x 46 m] and 4R/22L [1964 x 46 m]) are ILS-equipped, and serve as the ...
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What is the physical experience of passengers in the cabin during an Emergency Descent?
I am not a pilot so please forgive any misuse of aviation terminology; I'm merely a person who is working hard to overcome a sudden and intense fear of flying.
While working through a course to ...
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If pilots in a A320 or 737 had a dual engine failure, would they add flaps for the landing?
Would this not be smart to do because you may come in a little fast, therefore the flaps would send you back up? Or would you absolutely want flaps in this situation
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What switch was Skiles talking about shortly before the Hudson landing?
I'm always amazed by the "miracle of the Hudson River landing" and just now stumbled across this video by the NTSB.
At 3:52, Jeffrey Skiles appears to say "* * switch" shortly before they ditch in ...
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Are measures taken to deliberately increase the fuel burn rate to lower the landing weight? [duplicate]
Just recently the Air Canada flight AC837 from Madrid to Toronto had problems with the gear right after take-off and they decided to abort the flight and go back to Madrid. It was a B767-300 (C-GHOZ) ...
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What should I do if I lose situational awareness while in the pattern?
Let's say that I'm doing some pattern work in my favorite little Cessna or Diamond at my favorite little non-towered airport. Everything is going just fine, I'm on the downwind leg...
Or, wait a ...
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Why are there many pilots who don't say "mayday, mayday, mayday" to declare an emergency?
I've been listening to some ATC from some major commercial pilots and in every video where there's been some confusion about declaring an emergency they've used some terminology other than "mayday, ...
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smartphones in fligth mode when bad weather conditions? [duplicate]
when flying form Vienna to Stuttgart, we had a terrible weather conditions, before landing the cabin crew announced that by request of the captain, all electronic devices must be switch off, not ...
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How do humanitarian flights arrange special permissions to fly when ATC isn't available?
In natural disasters, transportation infrastructure is often among the first and most critical of public services to be disrupted. Not coincidentally, it's also a time that tends to see small airports ...
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Can an F-16 land on an aircraft carrier, at all?
Looking at the F-16 again, I noticed the tailhook which it seems to have. I know the F-16 is not designed to land on any aircraft carrier, however, if it was between ditching in the ocean and ...
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Why is the time of useful consciousness only seconds at high altitudes, when I can hold my breath much longer at ground level?
This answer says at FL500 (50,000 ft; 15,250 m) the time of useful consciousness is only 6 to 9 seconds.
But if I just stop breathing at any arbitrary time, without any preparation, I can easily ...
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