declaring

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A1TAPE

Well-Known Member
Hey all. Just going thru ADX prep and got to the dispatcher declaring questions. This brings up a good question. Have any of you ever had to declare an emergency for one of the flights you released and followed?
 
Almost.. Couldn't locate an overdue flight and ATC said they never landed. I got ahold of the crew via their cell phone as they walked through the terminal :-|. I would have of they didn't answer... That's the closest I ever came to declaring.
 
where did they land if ATC said they never landed? By overdue do you mean it went over on its arrival time and it disappeared from your radar?
 
But still unless its a uncontrolled airport, SOMEONE must have seen that plane land. tower, ground, even the ramp guys.
 
sure....doesn't mean you can always get ahold of someone in a timely fashion. if it is an uncontrolled airport then ATC is waiting on the crew to call via phone on the ground to cancel their clearance. if they dont then ATC starts calling the airline to get answers. a small airport that doesnt have ATC probably doesnt have the manpower to be near a phone in the middle of working a flight. if your flight crew never cancels their clearance and the station doesnt enter the times you are stuck trying to call every number you have to find someone to confirm your flight landed safely.
 
Do you need to go in a certain order or could you just call the crew directly and say "hey did you guys land safely? ATC wanted to know."
 
no specific order necessarily but the crew or the station are really who you want to talk to. you can call the airport to verify its there but you are still going to want to get the official times from the crew, either directly or from what they gave the station.
 
Heliman81 said:
Almost.. Couldn't locate an overdue flight and ATC said they never landed. I got ahold of the crew via their cell phone as they walked through the terminal :-|. I would have of they didn't answer... That's the closest I ever came to declaring.
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I would have the local LEO do an airport inspection before I'd declare an emergency. Honestly, what does declaring an emergency do for you on an overdue aircraft? Probably gets local LEO out to do a airport inspection to look for your plane. Pretty much the same thing. If this is a 121 crew who forgot to close their flight plan and they don't answer their phone I'd talk to the hotel (hotel van driver) for an update. Calling a crew who's caller ID will show the airlines number is a good way to get a crew who is off duty to ignore you. It is most likely skeds wanting you to reposition to Bend, OR on a 91 leg giving you a 15 hour day. Screw that.
 
A1TAPE said:
where did they land if ATC said they never landed? By overdue do you mean it went over on its arrival time and it disappeared from your radar?
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Had two flights land back to back at RDU, I believe, and OOOI times went in for one of the arrivals and not the other. The tower said one landed and when I pressed them for the other aircraft they said they weren't sure, how they weren't sure I'll never know.
 
DE727UPS said:
I would have the local LEO do an airport inspection before I'd declare an emergency. Honestly, what does declaring an emergency do for you on an overdue aircraft? Probably gets local LEO out to do a airport inspection to look for your plane. Pretty much the same thing. If this is a 121 crew who forgot to close their flight plan and they don't answer their phone I'd talk to the hotel (hotel van driver) for an update. Calling a crew who's caller ID will show the airlines number is a good way to get a crew who is off duty to ignore you. It is most likely skeds wanting you to reposition to Bend, OR on a 91 leg giving you a 15 hour day. Screw that.
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The crew answered their phone so apparently it worked.
 
DE727UPS said:
I would have the local LEO do an airport inspection before I'd declare an emergency. Honestly, what does declaring an emergency do for you on an overdue aircraft? Probably gets local LEO out to do a airport inspection to look for your plane. Pretty much the same thing. If this is a 121 crew who forgot to close their flight plan and they don't answer their phone I'd talk to the hotel (hotel van driver) for an update. Calling a crew who's caller ID will show the airlines number is a good way to get a crew who is off duty to ignore you. It is most likely skeds wanting you to reposition to Bend, OR on a 91 leg giving you a 15 hour day. Screw that.
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Heliman81 said:
The crew answered their phone so apparently it worked.
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I've never had problems getting the crew to pickup. Left a VM a couple of times but they usually call back by the time I hang up.
 
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A1TAPE said:
where did they land if ATC said they never landed? By overdue do you mean it went over on its arrival time and it disappeared from your radar?
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We don't use radar; we have tools to flight follow visually - WSI Fusion, Sabre Flight Explorer, etc. This is purely supplemental information however and not the official source for flight monitoring, which in my case is the crew-reported block times. They will generally call times back to the station via VHF. Ha, ACARS :rolleyes:
 
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