Vacuum Pump Failure + Infringment

[Rod1]

One day I was flying along having just cleared the Scottish TMA. I had signed off and was about to call Scottish info when I had partial engine failure. I had an unlicensed strip 15 nm behind me inside CAS, and mountains in front and was losing 50fpm with considerable vibration. I did a swift 180 and called PAN on my original frequency. Got the aircraft and 4 people on board on the ground in one piece and called the controller who had been very helpful. His take was in a real emergency fly the aircraft and let us know ASAP. No problem infringing in an urgency/emergency, it was his job to keep everyone else out of my way.

Rod1

[dublinpilot]

You could even bring a major international airport to a standstill in the process.....

All through something minor like a vacuum failure or a dodgy engine on a twin...

Bose, saying things like that only results in other pilots thinking like this

I'm fairly sure sitting here on the ground that I would rather land on very dodgy field then divert into a major airport like LGW, or LHR. a) There are lot more lives at stake if your sudden unannounced arrival causes more swiss cheese holes to line up and b) if the fault is minor you'd have an awful lot of explaining to do..possibly in court????

As one of the more experienced pilots here you should know better! You have enough experience operating into large airports to know that the world doesn't come to an end when the get a diversion.......it's just part of the job for them.

Please try to think of the implications of your comments on less experienced pilots.

Essel,

Please don't think of diverting into a 'dodgy' airport for fear of a large one! Large airport often are a much better choice. They have longer and wider runways, so if you have a handling difficulty, you have more room to work it. They have full time fire and crash crews who will be waiting for you long before you land. They usually have ATC with radar who can give you vectors, to leave more brain capacity available for you to deal with what ever is going on.

You will NOT put lives at risk simply by going to a large airport. ATC is very capable of handling a diversion, and they are not the police. They won't question if you should or should not have declared an emergency, and they won't complain to the CAA about you messing up their nice traffic flow.

ATC is always very helpful when it comes to an emergency....any emergency, and you have nothing to fear from them

dp

[Essel]

Dublin Pilot:

Excellent post thank-you .. but I'm not that impressionable don't worry (although others maybe perhaps so your point is still valid of course).

If I had a serious problem I would MayDay and ask ATC for nearest & assistance, if the aircraft could not maintain altitude and/or was difficult to control it would probably be a forced landing anyway (unless you were flying very close to a major..which is unlikely). So the scenario is very possibly highly academic.

[BackPacker]

I agree wrt. to diverting to a major airport as being a good option in case of an emergency. The CAA or ATC won't prosecute you for it and there's far more help available over there than on a dodgy farm strip.

However, diverting to, let's say, LHR when on a VFR flight in perfect VMC conditions because of a broken vacuum pump will certainly give the informal air police over at Jet Blast a field day.

They should not question the judgement of the commander, but you and I know they will.

[belowradar]

Essel - Just wondering if you were IMC or not, what kind of day was it did you have a decent natural horizon ?

AH Toppling should not be a big deal if you were flying VFR

Just a thought !

[DFC]

Essel,

I recomend that you sit down and write a brief report to the CAA regarding the matter. Since you had an "incident" then you should make a report. Not the vacuum pump incident - the entry into controlled airspace without clearance incident.

In your report state clearly that you had a failure, you decided that the safest course of action was to divert to as quickly as possible and in doing so you entered controlled airspace without permission because.

Finish with the fact that you as pilot in command did what you did to ensure the safety of the aircraft........which is what you said in your posts.

---------

If you are in the same situation again and find that you need to infringe controlled airspace in the interest of safety but can not get in on the frequency I would recomend that you squalk 7700. You can guarantee that the frequency will become available very quickly and you let the whole world know that you have a problem - the LARS people, the ATC unit controlling the airspace (assuming radar coverage) and D+D are all immediately made aware of your problem by a quicj code change on the transponder.

After you get their attention they can ask you to change the code to something else but I can guarantee that 7700 gets people's attention very quickly.

Regards,

DFC

[SNS3Guppy]

Why?

Because not knowing where you are can get you hurt or killed nearly as fast as not flying the airplane.

Aviating...that's doing.

Navigating. That's doing.

Communicating...that's talking.

Do first, talk later.

Navigating is more than flying the magenta line on your GPS display. It's being aware of your position. It is maintaining control of the aircraft, with direction. Navigation is a very close second to Aviating, when it comes to Aviating, Navigating, Communicating.

You can stop talking all day, but unless you plan to hover, that aircraft is moving forward and going somewhere. Once you have the airplane under control, then knowing where you're going is paramount. That's navigating. not just what direction,but what lies beneath, ahead, and if you're flying in terrain, very possibly what lies above. This is equally as critical if you're flying in busy airspace. A mid-air collision will hurt you every bit as much as the side of a mountain, building, or thunderstorm.

Aviate, navigate, communicate.

[belowradar]

Essel,

I recomend that you sit down and write a brief report to the CAA regarding the matter

From my experience the above is bad advice, if CAA want to know more they will ask you and then you will have will an opportunity to explain what happened.

Example - "Hi Mr controller, my name is xyz just calling up to apologise for infringing your zone"

Response - "When was that, what is your name and aircraft REG ? I have just taken over as duty supervisor and I am not aware of any incident ?"

"Click !" sound of phone disconnecting suddenly ! Oh dear must be a bad line

[adverse-bump]

If something is going to kill you in a airplane, you'll be dead before you know it! If your still alive the only thing that will kill you is yourself.

It sounds to me like you panicked after a small failure, i'm guess you were VFR, and hence VMC. ie no need for a AI!!!

The best thing to do in these situations is not to simply point it to "the nearest overhead." why not carry on your current track? give your brian time to think and consider the options. The human brain is a complex thing, but can be summarized by the fight or flee response, this is fine if your being chased by a dinosaur, but has no place in aviation, STOP, THINK, RESPOND.

Having a little experience is an obvious benefit, when i used to instruct I used to try and teach this sort of thinking, but sadly, I dont think everyone does. You cant teach someone to deal with every emergency, but you can teach them how to cope with them when they come along.

The last time I had a Suction prob, i was IMC, at night and lost everything. I kept the wings level, climbed to MSA, paused to "sorted my life out", then spoke to ATC and got them to deal with my navigation.

Hopefully, you'll learn something from your response to this small problem, and next time something really goes wrong you handle a little better. Infringing after something like this sounds little very sloppy flying, and could have endangered many lives. One last thought have you filled a ASR?

[Essel]

Originally Posted by adverse-bump

It sounds to me like you panicked after a small failure, i'm guess you were VFR, and hence VMC. ie no need for a AI!!!

There was no panic, I simply felt it prudent to head for a nearby airfield which was almost on my track anyway. As already said, the concern was that there may be an associated engine problem.

Thanks to all the posters. I've certainly learnt a lot from the experience and it won't be happening again.