NationalGeographicTravellerUKMayJune2020

Emergency!
Quite a lot can go wrong on a
fl ight, whether it’s a passenger
falling ill, an engine giving up the
ghost or the plane being on fi re.
However, all but the most serious
can usually be handled without
passengers knowing anything has
gone wrong.

So, someone’s fallen ill...
Flight attendants aren’t nurses
or doctors, but they do undergo
enough medical training to
administer CPR and spot when
respiratory problems or faintness
mean something is seriously
wrong. When a passenger falls ill,
they’ll do what they can, perhaps
asking if there’s a medical
professional on board who can
volunteer to help.
There’s also medical kit on
board, but it’s only designed to
stabilise someone until landing.
Meanwhile, the captain is
going to be in touch with ground
consultation services, which have
doctors on their teams, to work
out the best plan of action. The
captain will ultimately make the
decision on whether to divert for
an extremely costly emergency

US AIRWAYS FLIGHT 1549

Disaster struck on the

afternoon of 15 January

2009, when an Airbus

A320 struck a fl ock of

Canada geese around fi ve

minutes after taking off

from New York’s LaGuardia

Airport. Captain Chesley

Sullenberger successfully

ditched the plane on the

Hudson River and all 155

people on board survived.

BRITISH AIRWAYS FLIGHT 9

Heading from Kuala Lumpur

to Perth in 1982, all four

engines on a Boeing 747-200

failed after it fl ew through a

volcanic ash cloud. The fl ight

crew worked out they had

23 minutes of gliding time

and aimed to ditch on the

Indian Ocean. However,

at a lower altitude, they

managed to restart the

engines and land safely in

Jakarta. Everyone survived.

AIR TRANSAT FLIGHT 236

In 2001, a Lisbon to Toronto

fl ight sprang a fuel leak while

carrying 293 passengers and

13 crew. The captain and

fi rst offi cer diverted for the

Lajes Air Base in the Azores

before the engines fl amed

out. An air turbine provided

enough electrical power to

keep the cockpit sensors and

instruments going, and the

pilots were able to glide the

plane to a successful landing. IMAGE: GETTY

THE VAST MAJORITY OF FLIGHTS PASS UNEVENTFULLY, BARRING THE ODD BIT OF

TURBULENCE. BUT VERY, VERY OCCASIONALLY, AN EMERGENCY SITUATION KICKS IN.

SO, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN IT DOES? WORDS: DAVID WHITLEY

landing. Which way the decision

goes will depend on whether

nearby airports are appropriate

and available, as well as the

condition of the passenger.

What if an engine dies?

As long as it’s just one engine,

everything’s probably going to

be alright. Modern planes are

designed for this eventuality.

The Boeing 777, for example, is

certifi ed to fl y for up to fi ve-

and-a-half hours with a solitary

functioning engine. Pilots will,

in conjunction with ground

crew, arrange to divert for an

‘emergency’ landing at the

nearest practical airport.

If all the engines fail, it’s glide

time. It’s o˜ en possible to glide

to a nearby airport and land

relatively safely a˜ er air traffi c

control has cleared the way.

Otherwise, the pilot will be

scouting for places to land and

trying to get the engines to kick

back in once at a lower altitude.

And if cabin pressure is lost?

A puncture to the exterior or a fi re

can be much more serious than

the loss of an engine — mainly

because people will pass out very

quickly without supplementary

oxygen at the sort of altitude

where jet planes cruise.

This is when the oxygen masks

drop down from above — but

they’ll only give you enough

oxygen for about 20 minutes

maximum. The plane, at this

point, will be in a steep descent

— that’s because the pilots are

trying to get it below 10,000˜ ,

where the air is breathable again,

as soon as possible.

What happens in an

emergency landing?

Pilots will switch the transponder

to 7700, which tells all air traffi c

control stations in the area that a

plane needs prioritising. Air traffi c

control and the captain will then

come up with a plan of action.

Many relatively remote

airports are much bigger than

they need to be to accommodate

such emergency landings. These

include Halifax Stanford in

Canada, Santa Maria in the Azores

and Wake Island in the Pacifi c.

Meanwhile, other airports are set

aside for security emergencies. In

the UK, this is Stansted.

WHAT HAPPENS IN

A PLANE EMERGENCY?

FREQUENT FLYER

BREAKOUT

Emergency success stories

TRAVEL GEEKS

146 nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel