This is an excerpt from a report made to the Aviation Safety Reporting System. The narrative is written by the pilot, rather than FAA or NTSB officials. To maintain anonymity, many details, such as aircraft model or airport, are often scrubbed from the reports.
I experienced an engine that started to shake, along with a burning rubber smell and some visible smoke from the prop spinner area.
Immediately I turned towards ZZZ airport and called the Tower. I requested priority handling, stated my position as 15 miles west of the airport, inbound to land.
The Tower Controller told me to enter a right base for XXR. I said that I wanted to preserve my altitude and just go directly to the airport, then circle down from there in case I lost complete power.
I knew at my altitude, I would enter the Bravo airspace and requested that she give me a Bravo clearance, again stating that I’m requesting priority handling.
I was aware that I could use my priority authority to enter the Bravo without a clearance, but I still had the time and distance to receive a Bravo clearance. Tower said no, they can’t give me a Bravo clearance and again instructed me to enter a right base for XXR.
Frustrated that they didn’t seem to understand the situation, I called ZZZ1 Approach on XXX.X, requested priority handling with them, got the Bravo clearance, he even read me the current ATIS, then once I was overhead ZZZ, they switched me back to Tower.
I reduced power to idle and made a normal power off 180 landing, and was able to taxi to parking on my own power.
I’m very disappointed in how ZZZ Tower was not helpful in my situation. Even on a normal day, that controller seems overwhelmed and stressed out, spacing airplanes on 5+ mile finals, yelling at planes to widen the base leg to abnormal sizes, then when I experienced my problem, gives me instructions contrary to what I felt was the safest course of action and unhelpful overall.
Honestly, I feel that ZZZ would be a safer airport with no control tower (class E) than the service that I received.
Primary Problem: Aircraft
ACN: 1924026
If you have an in flight emergency there is nothing that anyone on the ground
can do to help you. I lost an engine in a T-33 in the Air Force, the second in a Cessna 180 and another in a Starduster Too. In each I held my altitude setting up a circle for a forced engine with power loss over the nearest airport. Declare the emergency, The tower or approach do not have the ability to make good decisions for you. Be quick to deny some bad advice, saying “Unable to do that.” Talk to the ground but your only job is to get your plane on the ground as safely as possible. You are on your own, do not waste valuable time talking to the ground.
You got exactly what you asked for…..if you have an emergency you need to declare an emergency….
I declared an emergency many years ago. Night, single engine, loss of power. I was amazed at how many controllers responded from several airports. I talked to the one nearest to me, but knew my best bet was to go into a nontowered airport I had just passed. Long story short, no problems with declaring an emergency—once safely on the ground, I let the controller know I was ok. Black helicopters didn’t show up, my license wasn’t pulled. I don’t understand why the reluctance to call out a mayday. BTW, I was 19 at the time. Maybe inexperience had its virtues.
Priority handling is I don’t have enough fuel for 20 minutes of holds or deviations.
Actually, there isn’t any specific meaning to requesting “priority handling”—that’s why I said “what the heck does that mean anyway?” If the pilot says to ATC, “minimum fuel”, it means (according to the AIM) that the fuel supply is so low that any undue delay may cause an emergency. But exact number of minutes isn’t specified. Then ATC is supposed to give “priority handling”.
There are other reasons that ATC will provide “priority handling”, but there’s nothing in the regs or AIM for a pilot to simply ask for “priority handling”—that doesn’t tell ATC much of anything. Under the facts of this situation, declaring an emergency would have been the very best pilot action—using words that make it clear, like “mayday” or “emergency”.
Maybe ATC was substandard, but it sounds more to me like the reporting pilot was substandard. When you have an emergency, use that word! Or MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY! Nobody can read your mind if all you do is ask for “priority handling”—what the heck is that, anyway?
In 50 years, I’ve had a couple of emergencies. It’s not that hard to use the word.
Just use one word three times: “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday.
Let’s see if GA News will allow some gratuitous self-promoting….
read:
https://airfactsjournal.com/2021/02/mayday-mayday-mayday/
EVERY primary student should have to recite FAR 91.3b before every flight until they get their private. And it ought to be part of every Flight Review thereafter as item #1. It’s ALWAYS easier to ask forgiveness after the fact than permission before.
Approach seemed to “get it”.
It looks like the “tower” wasn’t gonna help until he said the “secret word”.
Maybe the tower was that busy? I don’t know and it wasn’t mentioned in the text.
I feel the airport would be safer if pilots would read the Pilot/Controller Glossary in the AIM rather than making up terms like Priority Handling and expect ATC to guess what that means.
44 years flying as a CFI, DPE and 121 Line Check Airman have all shown the same result: pilots are all too reluctant to declare an emergency.
In any situation with any medical, mechanical or other abnormality that could in any way imperil the flight don’t hesitate to declare an emergency.
Might be asked to write a letter explaining
the situation, or as often as not a phone explanation will suffice.
Don’t hesitate, it’ll get you the help you need.
Might also add that not declaring an emergency with the indications he was experiencing is exposing the people on the ground to unnecessary risk should his engine quit and he had to land in a populated area.
Wow, just Wow, a pilot fails to communicate properly, expects the controller to let him do whatever he wants when as far as the controller knows is someone who doesn’t have an emergency and then blames the controller…..then his solution is to deprive everyone else of the use of a control tower. His suggestion to shut it down and leave an airport deemed busy enough to warrant one without a tower because he screwed up has to make him eligible for the Narcissist of the Year award.
I agree with the above comments. The problem here was not caused by the controller, it was the pilot, who failed to declare what was an emergency situation.
“I experienced an engine that started to shake, along with a burning rubber smell and some visible smoke from the prop spinner area”
Sounds like an emergency to me.
The problem isn’t the tower controller. The problem is an ATP/CFI with 13,000 hours in airplanes, helicopters, gliders, etc…
that still doesn’t get it.
Do the right thing and declare an EMERGENCY and the surrounding airports and airspace are yours. Ask for Priority, and don’t whine about what they give you. Lousy primary instruction is all too common today.
If my engine ran rough and I had smoke and a burning rubber smell, EVERY radio call after that would start with “Emergency aircraft, repeat emergency aircraft, N1357Z, I need a runway immediately,” etc. Maybe not the last part about needing a runway, but DEFINITELY the first part. DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. “Priority” means nothing. I had an emergency, and put “EMERGENCY AIRCRAFT at the front of the radio call or just after my call sign, and the incompentent-as-all-heck tower guys cleared the way for me.
“EMERGENCY” is the magic word. Not “I’m declaring,” or “priority” or “need assistance.”
“MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY” (three times) is good, too. Let ‘er rip, call it out.
“I am declaring an emergency” is the terminology that should have been used in this case. When the “priority handling” that was received was contrary to what the PIC believed was the necessary course of action to safely get the aircraft on the ground, then the PIC should have declared an emergency.
Yep