Low-fuel AC 787 declares Mayday repeatedly to Indian ATC

[linecrew]

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/artic ... nd-441893/

Investigators have disclosed that a diverted Air Canada Boeing 787-9's crew had to declare a Mayday four times over a low-fuel situation before being given approach clearance to Hyderabad.

The aircraft had originally been bound for Mumbai but was shuttled between alternate airports owing to capacity problems.

Transportation Safety Board of Canada states in a bulletin that it is "in contact" with India's accident investigation authority over the 19 September incident.

The aircraft (C-FGEI), which departed Toronto on 18 September, had been operating AC46 to Mumbai with 177 passengers and 14 crew members.

But Mumbai air traffic controllers cancelled the approach after a runway excursion involving another aircraft. The bulletin does not specifically identify this incident, but a SpiceJet Boeing 737-800 suffered an excursion shortly before the 787's arrival.

The Canadian bulletin says the 787 entered a hold for 1h but its crew then opted to divert to their alternate.

It does not identify the alternate but states that air traffic control informed the crew that they could not be accommodated owing to reaching maximum capacity.

The crew then chose to divert a second time to Hyderabad, after consulting with the carrier's operations centre, only to be informed by air traffic control en route that Hyderabad had already reached maximum capacity and could not handle the flight.

According to the bulletin Air Canada informed investigators that air traffic control "continued trying to divert the flight or attempted to place it in another hold", adding that the crew had to declare a Mayday over the aircraft's low-fuel situation four times before being cleared for a straight-in approach to Hyderabad's runway 09L.

Flight AC46, which has a scheduled duration of around 14h 30min, had been operating for around 17h at the time of arrival. The aircraft landed safely.

[ahramin]

A fascinating incident and I look forward to the TSB's report. I think most of us are pretty clear that if we're low on fuel we're just going to declare an emergency and land regardless of what ATC says, but the thought of having to go off the reservation and diverting 300+ miles without a clearance is not one that I had ever given any thought to. Or having to choose an approach, self vector and land all without a clearance. Not what happened to this crew but it makes one think.

Taking a page out of the oceanic contigency procedures might be a good start for a situation like this. Mayday on 121.5, climb to an altitude 500' off normal cruising altitudes, and keep an eye on the ACAS.

[MattK]

This is typical of ATC in India. I'm not sure of the time frame between the successive MayDay calls but it sounds like busy ATC basically ignoring something they don't want to deal with.

A second May Day call in a very clear voice TELLING them where you are going would likely suffice. Guessing it was a matter of getting ATCs full attention and making it clear that you don't care about full parking - you are landing.

[Eric Janson]

India is a mess - they have the infrastructure to support about half the flights they actually have.

Doesn't take much for the system to collapse - as happened here. Then it's complete chaos!

Expect the unexpected and take lots of fuel if you're flying there.

Normally there are a few days of publicity and then things are quietly swept under the rug by the Indian DGCA - be interesting to see what happens here.

What surprises me is that they don't have more accidents.

[pelmet]

but the thought of having to go off the reservation and diverting 300+ miles without a clearance is not one that I had ever given any thought to. Or having to choose an approach, self vector and land all without a clearance. Not what happened to this crew but it makes one think.

Exactly right. When a situation become critical, such as very low fuel or on fire....declare the emergency and if you don't get what you need right away.....proceed as required and let the controller deal with the issues.

One might remember the Nationair DC-8 in Saudi Arabia where a bad fire happened right after takeoff and they spent a significant amount of time getting the controller to understand who had the emergency. Unfortunately, they spent critical time flying away from the airport instead of turning immediately for a return regardless of ATC communication. In that case, squawking 7700 while in the turn would have made things clear to the controller while achieving the goal of an immediate return for landing and possibly saved the day.

This case obviously is different but if you are at risk of running out of gas and ATC is not helping...screw them and deal with the consequences later. Which may be what the AC crew did.