EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION PROCEDURES

COMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT

WAKE TURBULENCE

LECTURE 5
Emergency Communications
 When confronted with an emergency or
abnormal situation whilst in flight, flight crew
normally prioritise immediate actions in the
following order.
 Aviate;
 Navigate;
 Communicate.
Priority 1.- AVIATE

 Pilot - ensures the safe flight path and

condition of the aircraft
 e.g. initiation of a controlled rapid descent
 First Officer - deals with all radio

communications
 Flight crew inform air traffic control

immediately.
This normally entails the use of an initial call
incorporating the word “standby”.
Priority 2. -NAVIGATE

 Flight crew will decide on whether to

- continue the flight to the originally
intended destination, or
- initiate an immediate en route diversion,
- carry out an emergency descent or just
- place the aircraft in a safe flying position.

!!! The decision to divert normally will require

coordination with air traffic control.
Priority 3. – COMMUNICATE(1)
 Pilots facing an emergency situation should
declare an emergency as soon as possible.
 The correct method of communicating this
information to ATC is by using the prefix
“MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY” or
 “PAN PAN, PAN PAN, PAN PAN” as appropriate.
This procedure, which is an international
standard, is the single most effective means of
alerting the controller to the need to give
priority to the message that will follow.
Priority 3. – COMMUNICATE(2)
 In certain types of emergency,
e.g. Fire in the Air, Loss of Cabin
Pressurisation,
flight crew will don oxygen masks.
!!! The wearing of oxygen masks may make the
voice messages more difficult to understand
and increases the risk of a clearance being
misunderstood and the risk of
readback/hearback errors.

To don= to put on a piece of clothing (a purta)

 ATC COMMUNICATION
READBACK OR HEAR BACK

► WHAT IS READ BACK?

► WHY READ BACK?

► WHAT ARE THE RULES OF READ BACK?

 READ BACK - DEFINITION

- a procedure whereby the receiving station

repeats a received message or an appropriate
part thereof back to the transmitting station
so as to obtain confirmation of correct
reception. (ICAO Annex 10 Vol II).
 READBACK
RULES
 Always readback, i.e. repeat ATC instructions
in the same order as you receive them:
 Example:

APP: Speedbird 726 maintain flight level

70 to Daventry.
ACFT: Maintaining flight level 70 to
Daventry Speedbird 726.
 WHAT DO WE READ BACK?
 1. INSTRUCTIONS
- “Hold short” instructions
- Instructions to "Maintain visual
separation with" some traffic.

 2. RUNWAY ASSIGNMENTS
 WHAT ELSE DO WE READ BACK?

 3. WAKE TURBULENCE ADVISORIES

 4. TRAFFIC POINT-OUTS

Advisory=an official announcement or warning.

e.g. "a frost advisory"
 READBACK (cntd.)
 5. CLEARANCES
- headings, vectors, altitudes,
transponder codes, and radio
frequencies.
 Line-up-and-Wait, and Take-off

clearances.
 ATC COMMUNICATION
CORRECTION (1)
1) APP: KLM 570 contact Tower on 118.4.
Correction 118.5
ACFT: 118.5 KLM 570

2) GROUND: G-XD give way to DC-10 entering

taxiway 5. Correction taxiway 9.
ACFT: Giving way to DC-10 G-XD

GIVE WAY= LET ANOTHER AIRCRAFT GO PAST

 CORRECTION (2)

GROUND: Sabena 114 vacate runway at taxiway

[Link], marked trench on right side.
Correction, I say again, marked trench on
left side.
ACFT: Sabena 114 vacate runway at taxiway 4.
Trench on left side.

► WHEN DO YOU USE THE WORD ‘CORRECTION’?

TO VACATE= TO LEAVE
CAUTION! = PAY ATTENTION! DANGER!
TRENCH = DITCH
 ICAO URGENT CALLS
 PAN-PAN PAN-PAN PAN-PAN

 MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY

 Distress:     A condition of being threatened by serious and/or

imminent danger and requiring immediate assistance.
 Urgency:    A condition concerning the safety of an aircraft or
other vehicle, or of someperson on board or within sight, which
does not require immediate assistance.
 EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION
PROCEDURES
 Annex 12 to the ICAO Chicago Convention
defines three emergency phases:

 1) the Uncertainty Phase,

 2) the Alert Phase and
 3) the Distress Phase.
 Uncertainty phase (INCERFA): a situation
wherein uncertainty exists as to the safety of
an aircraft and its occupants
 Alert phase (ALERFA): a situation wherein
apprehension exists as to the safety of an
aircraft and its occupants
 Distress phase (DETRESFA): a situation
wherein there is a reasonable certainty that
an aircraft and its occupants are threatened
by grave and imminent danger and require
immediate assistance.
 DISTRESS MESSAGE

 a) 3 TIMES PAN PAN OR MAYDAY

 b) ADDRESSED STATION
 c) AIRCRAFT CALL SIGN
 d) NATURE OF EMERGENCY
 e) AIRCRAFT POSITION, ALTITUDE AND

HEADING
 f) PILOT’S INTENTIONS AND REQUEST
 Urgency message
(example)
 PAN PAN, PAN PAN, PAN PAN
 ALL STATIONS, ALL STATIONS, ALL STATIONS
 THIS IS CESSNA FOXTROT NOVEMBER JULIETT
INDIA
 POSITION: UNKNOWN
 AIRSPEED: 112 KNOTS
 ALTITUDE: 1050 FEET
 LOST, REQUEST RADAR CHECK
 CESSNA FOXTROT NOVEMBER JULIETT INDIA
 OVER
 Reply to
PAN PAN, PAN PAN, PAN PAN
(example)
 PAN PAN
 CESSNA FOXTROT NOVEMBER JULIETT

INDIA
 THIS IS WINNIPEG TOWER
 YOUR POSITION IS 20 MILES SOUTH OF

WINNIPEG
 WINNIPEG TOWER
 STANDING BY
AVIATION DISTRESS CALLS
 The civilian aircraft emergency frequency for
voice distress alerting is 121.5 MHz.

 Military aircraft use 243 MHz (which is a

harmonic of 121.5 MHz, and therefore civilian
beacons transmit on this frequency as well).

 Aircraft can also signal an emergency by

setting one of several special transponder
codes, such as 7700.
 DISTRESS MESSAGE
 A Mayday message consists of the word
"mayday" spoken three times in succession,
which is the distress signal, followed by the
distress message, which should include:
 …………………………………………………
 WHAT DO YOU THINK IT INCLUDES?
 Have a look at the examples that follow!!!
 Example of a Distress Message from an
Aircraft
 MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY,
 YELLOWKNIFE APPROACH
 THIS IS CFZXY, CFZXY, CFZXY,
 FIVE ZERO MILES SOUTH OF YELLOWKNIFE AT

ONE SEVEN TWO FIVE ZULU, FOUR

THOUSAND, NORSEMAN, ICING,
 WILL ATTEMPT CRASH, LANDING ON ICE,
 CFZXY,
 OVER.
Example of An Urgency Message Addressed to
All Stations
 PANPAN, PANPAN, PANPAN,
 ALL STATIONS, ALL STATIONS, ALL
STATIONS,
 THIS IS TIMMINS RADIO, TIMMINS RADIO, TIMMINS
RADIO,
 EMERGENCY DESCENT AT TIMMINS AIRPORT, ATC
INSTRUCTS ALL AIRCRAFT BELOW SIX THOUSAND
FEET WITHIN RADIUS OF ONE ZERO MILES OF TIMMINS
NDB LEAVE EAST AND NORTH COURSES
IMMEDIATELY,
 THIS IS TIMMINS RADIO
 OUT.
 WAYS OF SENDING DISTRESS
MESSAGES
 Over the radio, to whoever the pilot is currently
talking to.
 Over the radio, to anyone monitoring the
"emergency" frequency –
- VHF frequency 121.5MHz is reserved for aircraft
emergency communication
 Using the aircraft's transponder.
- 3 transponder codes for emergency situations:

7700 for general emergencies

7600 for loss of communication (radio failure)
7500 for hijacking or other unlawful interference
 Communication Equipment
THE TRANSPONDER

A transponder (short for transmitter-

responder ) is an electronic device that
produces a response when it receives a radio-
frequency interrogation.
 assists in identifying aircraft on air traffic

control radar.
 Collision avoidance systems use transponder

transmissions as a means of detecting aircraft

at risk of colliding with each other.
TRANSPONDER
KTX2- TRANSPONDER
 TRANSPONDER CODES (1)
 Air traffic control units use the term "squawk"
when they are assigning an aircraft a
transponder code,

 e.g. "Squawk 7421".

 Squawk can be said to mean "select

transponder code" or "squawking" to mean "I
have selected transponder code xxxx".
TRANSPONDER CODES (2)
 four digit numbers transmitted by an aircraft
transponder in response to a secondary
surveillance radar interrogation signal
 Used to assist air traffic controllers with

traffic separation.
 A discrete transponder code (often called a

squawk code) is assigned by air traffic

controllers to identify an aircraft in a FIR.
 This allows easy identification of aircraft on

radar.
Wake turbulence
 WAKE TURBULENCE
 a disturbance in the atmosphere that forms
behind an aircraft as it passes through the
air.

 Major components:
- Wingtip vortices
- Jetwash

- in the take-off or landing phases of flight.

 JETWASH
 Jetwash refers simply to the rapidly moving
gases expelled from a jet engine;
 it is extremely turbulent, but of short

duration.
 WINGTIP VORTICES
 circular patterns of rotating air left behind a
wing as it generates lift
 Air from below the wing is drawn around the wingtip
into the region above the wing by the lower
pressure above the wing, causing a vortex to trail
from each wingtip.
 The strength of wingtip vortices is determined
primarily by the weight and airspeed of the aircraft.
 Wingtip vortices make up the primary and most
dangerous component of wake turbulence
WINGTIP VORTICES
 SUMMARY OF TODAY’S LECTURE

 Communication procedures, readback,

correction, urgent calls

 Communication equipment (the transponder

and its codes)

 Wake turbulence (in relation to advisories in

communication and flight safety)
Food for thought - Homework
 1) What is a runway assignment?
 2) What other advisories except for wake
turbulence can be issued?
 3) List some traffic point-outs.
 4) Give and describe in a few words one example
of a plane in
- an uncertainty phase
- an alert phase
- a distress phase.
HOMEWORK due 8 May. There will be a special
section on the moodle platform.
Thank you!