Air traffic control versus pilots.
Medical emergency. Captain is incapacitated.
Request handling for runway 10 landing.
Coming up!
Hey, 74 crew! Welcome back!
If you don't know me, my name is Kelsey.
I'm a 747 pilot.
My channel, 74 Gear, is all about aviation.
This is kind of a sad story.
We have a captain who actually ends up dying in flight.
Let's get into it!
Syracuse, American 550 is out of 15000 for 5000,
medical emergency. Captain is incapacitated.
Request handling for runway 10 landing.
American 550, Syracuse approach, roger. Altimeter is 30.25,
runway 28 is also available if you'd like. The winds are currently 090 at 3.
We'll accept runway 28 for American 550.
When you have time, fuel remaining and souls on board please?
154 souls on board.
American 550, roger. Information Sierra is available
at Syracuse. Visibility is 10 miles
and we're calling it 18000 broken on the ceiling.
Should be clear and beautiful morning.
American 550 and we might need to widen out just a little bit. We'll let you know.
American 550 Roger.
You can do it on your own or I can vector you wherever you'd like.
Keep in mind, the pilot is up there by himself
and it sounds like he's running the radios and flying the plane at the same time.
Now during cruise that's normal.
You have a pilot lead to go to the bathroom.
You'll fly the plane and run the radios.
However, during the landing phase of flight,
there's a lot more things to do and you're used to having someone
that's doing certain roles and you're doing certain roles.
So in this case he's running both
and he's used to having a pilot up there as all airline pilots are
and that's why he keeps saying things like "we".
Like he does right here.
American 550, and we might need to widen out just a little bit. We'll let you know.
This pilot is staying extremely calm and very professional
and doing all the things that he's required to do.
And that's why it's important to do your training and develop good habits.
When he checks in, you heard him check into with the controller
and say they had a medical emergency on board
and that's something that you're supposed to do during your first check in with a new controller.
After that you can say your normal call sign
but every time you check in with a new controller,
if you have something like an emergency,
it's important to check in with that even though they're passed that information
from the controller ahead of them.
It's just good to eliminate any possible confusions.
Listen when he checks in here.
Medical emergency. Captain is incapacitated.
Request handling for runway 10 landing.
The next thing you'll notice is the pilot asks for runway 10.
One of the things that we have as an airline pilot
is that we can hit a button inside of our plane
and the plane will spit out everything that we need
as far as what we need to land at that airport.
The printout looks like this.
It gives us everything like the direction of the wind,
the speed of the wind,
the temperature.
All the things relevant for us to land at a given runway.
When you're flying a small plane you don't have anything typically
that's going to print off like this.
So you're up there by yourself in a small plane,
you have to talk to or listen to air traffic control
and also listen to the current weather that's going on at the airport there.
Now in some cases I've heard people say
I'm going to go get the weather, I'll be right back.
It means typically they only have one radio that they can use at a time
and they can't do two radios.
But that skill of listening to one frequency and talking
and listening to another frequency at the same time
will help you
but when you're an airline pilot it makes it nice
to just hit a couple buttons and get a printout.
My assumption is that on the current weather report
it said that this was the active runway.
Runway 10 going this direction.
But you heard the controller say that runway 28 was also available.
He's suggesting to the pilot to go on to the other runway.
Listen here.
Runway 28 is also available if you'd like. The winds are currently 090 at 3.
Now as a pilot sometimes you have to read between the lines
of what air traffic control is actually telling you.
They're giving you a suggestion of something that you can do
but at the end of the day you're responsible.
They're not gonna say:
"Hey! if I was you I would really land on this other runway".
They're not going to say that because that puts them liable
in a way.
However he's saying hey this other runway is also available
that's reading between the lines.
It's something hey you should be landing on this runway instead.
It'll be better for you.
Currently the pilot is probably on this side of the airport.
So for him to land on runway 28 will be faster.
If not he would have to fly all the way back,
past the airport in order to land on runway 10.
It's the exact same runway but just opposite directions.
Besides giving the pilot a suggestion of what runway to land on,
he also helps him out by giving him the current weather.
Something that we have to have as a pilot before we land is
we have to have the current weather on the field.
There was a video I did a while back where the controller said:
"Do you have the current weather?"
and the pilot was busy flying he was dealing with an emergency
and basically the air traffic controller was saying:
"Hey! Here's another thing for you to do"
However this controller is doing the opposite.
The controller is just letting him know:
"Hey! Here's the current weather there".
So now that's one less thing that the pilot has to do
even though he already got that print out,
the air traffic controller is doing everything he can to take off
and unload tasks that this pilot will be responsible for.
Listen when he says this.
American 550 roger. Information Sierra is available
at Syracuse. Visibility is 10 miles
and we're calling it 18000 broken on the ceiling.
Should be clear and beautiful morning.
By doing that and giving him the current weather there at the airport,
it alleviates one more task for this pilot who's up there by himself flying.
Let's see what's next.
American 550, contact tower 120.3
20.3, American 550.
550, runway 28.
Expect the right turn off of Foxtrot or Charlie.
The ambulance will meet you in the south de-ice pad.
Alright, are they gonna have a way to get into the airplane
quickly or do we need to go to a gate?
They will have a way to get in the airplane quickly.
We have a big de-ice pad there.
I can you progressives.
Except the right turn, it'll be at midfield F.
Understood...
as long as they have a way to get on the airplane quickly.
We need them to get to the captain, thank you.
Roger, sir.
This pilot is doing a great job.
He has not task saturated himself,
he's got a big picture of everything that's going on including what is important
once they get on the ground.
Obviously he's up there, he's responsible for everybody on the plane,
including the captain who is unconscious at this time
and he's asking the controller:
"Are you sure you're going to be able to get to the captain
if we go to this de-ice pad here"
Listen.
All right, are they gonna have a way to get into the airplane quickly
or do we need to go to a gate?
He's questioning him because the de-ice pad is where pilots go
for obviously, to de-ice an aircraft.
And what's typically over there is nothing.
And there's nothing over there because what we use it for during wintertime
is for trucks to go around and spray the de-ice fluid all over the planes.
Any pilot that has been flying for a long time knows
that if they go into a remote area they have to get air stairs.
These air stairs are usually have a truck underneath them
and they're driven up to the plane so people can get on and off the plane.
Any pilot who's been flying for a while knows that sometimes it could take
20 or 30 minutes for air stairs to get hooked up.
People don't do it very often.
I've been there and watched somebody pull up five or six times
trying to get these stairs lined up with the plane
and he's also thinking about:
"Hey! If that's the case and you guys are gonna take the captain out on a stretcher,
now you're on a flight of stairs"
versus being on a jet bridge,
the pilot would be able to come right off on a stretcher
and be wheeled more quickly and get emergency care.
The controller is saying plan to go to the south de-ice pad.
And if you're looking at this chart here, you might be thinking:
Where is that?
Luckily with these iPads you have a more detailed map option that you can look at.
Like this one.
And when you zoom in here, you can see the south the ice pad is right here.
Next to the gates.
So he's flying the plane, working the radios
and thinking about everything that's going to be responsible afterwards.
That's what's called being ahead of your aircraft
and so what he's thinking is:
"Okay, well that's the south de-ice pad and the gates are right next to it
so wouldn't another 10 or 15 seconds getting to a gate
where people are used to being able to get on and get off quickly?
Medical personnel aren't going up and down steps.
Everything can move a lot faster is what he's thinking.
I'm guessing.
But he's thinking this is going to make it more efficient.
So he's being ahead of his aircraft with this something that takes experience
but it makes you really good as a pilot when you're seeing everything
that's coming next.
And now air traffic control is looking and thinking the exact same thing.
They're telling them to park here. Why not just take them here?
Which is going to cause the controller think:
Hmm, maybe that would be a better option to go to the gate.
Watch what happens next.
Airport Command, do you guys have a way of getting into the cockpit
expeditiously or does the aircraft need to go to a gate?
Roger, thank you for the update.
American 550, you will be going to a gate, sir.
It's gonna be gate 6. I'll give you quick progressives as soon as you land.
Okay we'll expect gate 6, American 550.
Now had the pilot not questioned ATC about going to the south de-ice pad
and had he gotten overloaded with everything that was going on,
it would have probably added time to the pilot getting off the aircraft.
But by double checking twice he asked him,
are you sure because we need to get somebody up there?
It caused a controller to go hmm.
Maybe I should double check
and even though it's missing some of the radio transmission on the other side,
that's the controller asking the people on the ground:
Are you sure that we can get them up there quickly?
And when he realizes that it's not going to happen very fast,
he says yeah, we're going to send you to the gates
and he says he's going to give him a progressive.
Listen to this.
American 550, you will be going to a gate, sir.
It's going to be gate 6. I'll give you a quick progressives as soon as you land.
A progressive is something that you will get if you're new to the airport,
you can ask the controllers for progressive.
You typically don't hear airline pilots do it
because there's two people.
One person who's taxing the plane and one person who's looking on the chart
to figure out exactly what the best way to get there is.
However you can always, if you're lost,
it's better to ask hey can I get a progressive.
And what that is is it's basically saying
Air traffic control, you're going to be my GPS
and you're going to give me a turn by turn of where I need to go,
go left here okay.
Next right you're going to make a right.
They'll give you those directions of how you need to go
in order to get somewhere.
You can do it.
Airline pilots typically don't do it
but if you ask for it they can give it to you
if they're not really busy.
So originally the controller wanted to go here in the south de-ice pad
but now they're gonna park right next to it at gate 6.
And it's open.
I don't think there was any bad intentions from the controller here.
I think he was simply thinking:
"Hey, there's an open area so we can get them there quickly parked
and get somebody on the plane".
But when the pilot asked him two times it made him question and think
is this really the best plan?
The pilot was saying that twice to make him read between the lines.
Earlier, I talked about how air traffic control suggesting something to you
as a pilot, is them suggesting to do something
and this is kind of the way the pilots will suggest something to air traffic control.
Ask them two times:
Are you sure that's the best way?
Is that really what we should be doing here?
And that made the controller query and ask these guys that were on the ground,
the medical personnel,
"Hey, can we get this all done quickly or would it be better to go to the gate?"
Now there's obviously some missing audio there
of what air traffic control was hearing on the other side but
he obviously learned it'd be better to get into the gate.
Now sadly this pilot was younger. he was only 57
and he did pass away during this flight.
But this pilot did everything he could to get him to the gate
as quickly as possible and I'm sure the captain would have been proud.
Delta 2953, runway 10L DD, turn left heading 360, cleared for take-off.
Turn left, left turn to 3...
360 that was?
Delta 2953 affirmative, turn left heading 360, cleared for take-off.
Delta 2953, you are turning the wrong way.
You need to be departing the other way.
Turning it around.
Just verify, cleared for take-off, Delta 2953.
Delta 2953, runway 10L at DD, turn left heading 360, cleared for take-off.
360, on the roll, Delta 2953, sorry about that.
That is really terrible audio and no,
it doesn't typically sound as bad as it sounds there.
In our headsets when we're talking with air traffic control.
Now I have heard about this happening for years I'd heard
about people when they get into the simulator, when they're new,
when they're doing training,
they get overloaded,
task saturated.
Essentially the opposite of the pilot earlier that was coming in to Syracuse.
It's the opposite of that.
And I've heard of a guy who during a simulator session
lined up on the runway the wrong direction.
Now the simulator instructor thought hmm,
all right, let's see what happens if I clear them for takeoff
and so this pilot lined up the wrong way
facing a bunch of grass and bushes.
There's no runway and these simulators are very accurate.
So he goes, okay yeah you're cleared for takeoff.
And they're just curious to see what he did
and he just added full power and
throw into a bunch of bushes and crashed in the sim.
They have from here going forward which is plenty of takeoff distance.
You can see here the total runway length is 13,000 feet.
Now I've flown in and out of Chicago for years.
It is very common to get an intersection takeoff on that runway
going both directions
and taking off from DD is very, very normal.
What's not normal is facing this direction.
Obviously if they tried to take off this direction,
it would have been a massive problem.
Now in all my years, I had heard about people doing that in the sim
but I'd never seen it done in real life.
And it's funny is that just a few months ago,
I saw someone actually do this exact thing
in real life at a different airport though.
It was during, I think November December, something like that
and we were coming out of Newark.
And we had this massive line of people.
It was during a big push.
A push is when all the planes are kind of going out at the same time.
It's our rush hour.
Anyways during this big push,
I was watching a guy from a airline,
come out onto the runway and face 100% the wrong direction.
And I thought: "No way!"
and then he just spun it all the way around
but it was nighttime.
So air traffic control didn't see but
all the planes that were there were probably thinking the same thing that I was
because the distance that way was even a lot less than this.
There was nothing there.
It was right at the towards the very beginning of the runway so I was thinking
what were you looking at?
And I don't know if it was the captain or it was the first officer but
it was...
the direction it would have been on the captain's side that
there was no more runway there so
if it was the captain that would really surprise me.
Either way, air traffic control didn't see it but
I have seen it happen in real life where a plane line up the wrong way
and that they were able to spin around and take off no problem.
The one thing that this pilot did that I really liked though was this part right here.
Just verify, cleared for take-off, Delta 2953.
These pilots know they messed up.
There's no doubt about it.
They know everybody in line is watching them messed up.
Everybody knows that it was a mess up.
But instead of taking something that was bad
and possibly making it significantly worse,
this pilot chose to verify that they were clear for takeoff.
Spinning and lining up on the runway the wrong direction
okay that's bad. It's embarrassing
but you're not going to get in any trouble for that.
Taking off without a runway clearance for takeoff,
you're going to get in a lot of trouble for that.
And if you add those two together, it's going to be very embarrassing.
So by this pilot double checking with air traffic control
that they are cleared for takeoff
before taking off,
that was a very smart, very responsible decision for this pilot to make.
And then you hear him say this here.
360, on the roll, Delta 2953, sorry about that.
That's a pilot's way to let air traffic control know that
they're actually moving going forward.
And just like any child, if you get in trouble,
the first thing you want to do is get out of there.
If you enjoyed this video, you're going to love one of these two up here.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Until then,
keep the blue side up!