TBM 900 Crash: Rethinking Inflight Emergencies

Thursday, September 11, 2014 at 05:46 PM ET

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In the wake of the crash of a TBM 900 after suspected pilot incapacitation, do controller and pilot training need an overhaul? Flying

Key Takeaways:

The article contrasts Captain Sully's "Miracle on the Hudson," where air traffic control (ATC) recognized an emergency without an explicit declaration, with a recent TBM 900 crash likely due to pilot incapacitation (hypoxia) where no emergency was declared.
It highlights a critical flaw in the current system: incapacitated pilots may not recognize or declare emergencies, and ATC might not be adequately trained to proactively assume an emergency in such subtle but life-threatening situations.
The author advocates for an overhaul of pilot and controller training, proposing that ATC should be compelled to treat certain communications from high-altitude aircraft (e.g., "needs to get lower") as an emergency when pilot incapacitation is a possibility.

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Editor’s note: Capt. Sullenberger contacted us after publication of this article to clarify that he did call “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday” immediately after birds struck his Airbus A320 on January 15, 2009, but his radio transmission was stepped on by a simultaneous call by the air traffic controller and so was never broadcast. The final NTSB transcript of the communications from Flight 1549, however, does begin with the “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday” transmission.

If there’s a textbook case of an inflight emergency that most everyone agrees was handled flawlessly, it’s Capt. Sully’s “Miracle on the Hudson” splashdown in January 2009. It made Sullenberger and copilot Jeff Skiles instant national celebrities, and still serves as a model of the calm and collected flight crew skillfully handling an extremely difficult situation.