Who has declared?

BigWaveDave said:
Passenger medical emergency. Captain got mad at me because he thought there would be paperwork. I confirmed with him that there was no paperwork to fill out.

Windshield outer and inner layers cracking on the KA200. Cracking doesn't do it justice. There was the sound similar to a 12 gauge shotgun going off little pieces of glass all over the glaresheild and me. I didn't know that the glass was 3 layers thick. Declared an emergency and ATC helped a lot. I just wished that someone could have helped pull the seat cover out of my butt.

Lesson learned: declare an emergency. So far no paperwork.
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From ATC's side a lot of the times you guys come on with oh we have a problem with this or that. I usually a) have no clue what you are talking about and b)assume if something is wrong and you are turning around as a result you are basically an emergency. But the follow up question of "are you declaring an emergency" is always met with a negative. So now I turn you back, and you say we would like minimal delays and direct JFK. Well I am sorry but if you want that declare the emergency, you aren't getting that by trying to put off the paperwork. So basically, if something is wrong just declare an emergency, makes it easier on us.
 
I spent 8 years in Prowler squadrons and I couldn't begin to guess the number of times we declared. (False) Engine fire lights and (real) hydraulic pump failures were the main culprits, although I've had my share of odd-balls too. The Hyd pumps are designed to work until failure, so loosing half the hyd system is not unusual. (I lost 2 of 4 pumps about 60 miles south of Baghdad during Souther Watch and had to bingo 500 miles back to base.) You still have half the system powering your flight controls but loose less important things like brakes, normal gear & flap/slat extension, wing fold, nose wheel steering, etc. It's not really a big deal unless you're on the ship, and even then it's just inconvenient.
 
I didn't declare because there was no one to declare to, but I had a cockpit of a 172 fill up with smoke one time. On an intro flight. The guy came back in about 3 hours with his medical in hand and wanted to start learning ASAP!
 
Have not delcared, probably should have on one of the situations though.

Had a cylinder head crack on me while on a solo cross country for my instrument rating, I was 25 miles away from any airport. Nearest was OMA, I decended trying to cool off the engine but temp gauge was pegged, ended up flying back at about 65 knots across the ground(Freakin headwind) I never flew over congested areas because I knew the engine could go at any second and around here Everywhere is a runway;) On the runway I oil blow back onto the cowling and windscreen and I shut down on one of the taxiways. Like every one says, that training really comes in withiout you having to think about it.

I've had a few near misses with traffic involving people not using their radios under a class B shelf.

Lost comms in the OMA Class charlie at one point, not a big deal.

Lost an alternator in an Arrow at night. Landed at a a smaller airport and turned the runways lights on before I lost comms.
 
I've been really lucky, to be honest. I've had a few mechanical problems, but nothing too out of hand. Bleed leak in an RJ (got it secured), a few rough engines in a 402 (usually mag related...just descend a bit and it'll work itself out), a number of alternator failures (more where that came from!), and a couple abnormal gear indications that required a recycle (but worked the second time around). I sucked a bit of ice into a 402's right engine fuel system at cruise once, and that resulted in an air return. The engine kept producing power though, so it was a non-event after the initial roughness.

Oh, funny thing about the ice in the fuel issue...once I got it back on the ground, we couldn't duplicate the problem. The mechanics looked at me like I had three heads. One of them finally said "Enough is enough, there's nothing wrong with it, so we're returning it to service." I told him that was fine, but we're doing a flight check, and you're coming with me. Gotta give him credit...he came with. :D
 
I doubt there are very few folks who have been in the business for 20+ years who have not declared.
 
First time - about a year ago I had a partial engine power loss in a 172 while mapping over the mountain at El Paso. I was at 13k and 5 miles from the airport so I had all day long to get down but I couldn't get a word in because there was a slow talker hogging the approach freq. I just dialed up 7700 and approach shut him up so I could tell them what was going on.

Second time - Last October I was ferrying one our Aztecs from WA to KS to get the camera hole mod done. Lost the right engine at night in pitch black 60 miles out of Rapid City SD over the black hills. To compound matters, the heater had stopped working and I was shivering head to toe. I found out that a real engine failure feels nothing like a sim engine out during multi training. It was surging and yawing the plane in both directions so violently that I thought that both engines were failing and knew there was no way I'd make the field if so. This is a 1961 original model (carburetor not fuel injected) Aztec. I thought maybe carb ice even though the AFM supplement for the aftermarket turbo charger stated that carb icing should never be an issue. I pulled back the right throttle and determined that the right side was the main (if not the only)culprit. Turned out to be a faulty vent on the tip fuel tank that starved the engine with 24 gallons remaining in that tank and the gauge showing 1/3 full.
 
pilotbry said:
I found out that a real engine failure feels nothing like a sim engine out during multi training.
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+1 Had two engine failures in two multi engine (recips) and one in a single engine... the multi-engine ones didn't feel anything like training... nor did the causes have anything to do with anything discussed on any oral or practical portion of any checkride.
 
Engine fire followed by failure at 11,500. Piper Six 300. You can never be too high unless you're on fire.

Start another thread; Who SHOULD have declared.
 
fholbert said:
Start another thread; Who SHOULD have declared.
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Heck I had a "shoulda" just 2 weeks ago in Albuquerque. At 15k shooting over Sandia peak and I had just gotten clearance and was diving back to ABQ and my combustion fan in the Janitrol heater disintegrates and throws shrapnel into the chamber(of course I found these details out later). Cockpit stunk like smoke though I couldn't see any smoke. I shut the fuel off to the heater and opened the vents and the smoke smell was gone just like that. I was ready to say something if I had any more hint of smoke but I didn't see any reason to interrupt a perfectly good card game at the fire station.
 
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