Emergency landing

Do you guys remember the Jet Blue emergency landing in LAX on September 21, 2005 where the nose landing gear was all locked sideways? We were discussing that landing back then (everybody was takling about it) and the question came up “Who actually flies the emergency landing?”, “Is it always the Captain automatically or do they draw straws in the cockpit?” “Or does it depend on who is the pilot flying at the time?”, “What’s the procedure?”, “Does the checklist spell out who flies?”

Well, since we couldn’t come up with any real answers between the two of us, we thought of a way Chuck and Julio would handle this…

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9 comments on “Emergency landing
  1. itsimon says:

    would really be interesting, how it is decided in real situations – hope they didn’t start the same way as C+J 😉

  2. Jackfloyd says:

    I guess it depends on the SOP of each company, but generally it’s the most senior pilot aka the captain.

  3. Well, in my opinion both Captain and First Officer should fly it together. Here in Europe under JAA all pilots that transport passengers are now obliged to undertake a theoretical class of Crew Resource Management, and one of it’s subjects is actually cockpit understanding. I only fly single pilot helicopters so far, and believe me I would be very happy if I could fly with another pilot at my side all the time, two are always better than one. 🙂

  4. Paul says:

    Agreed, my roommate and I use CRM anytime we fly, and we just fly a 172 haha. Whoever’s PIC, the other navigates. It’s quite efficient!

  5. Meganite says:

    MAN, this is why I hate flying solo… I’m always “it” -_-

  6. warbirdali says:

    Paul: bet you haven’t had a landing gear malfunction yet either! In multicrew aircraft I would have presumed it would be the Captain, but since when does common sense apply? Wonder on the Sully tapes was there ever a “my airplane” comment? I don’t remember one. Just as long as I am not a pax on Chuck and Julio’s flight

  7. fyrflier says:

    yeah, but was there no “my airplane” comment because Sully was the pilot flying on this leg?

  8. dermichi says:

    What I got from working a bit with different airlines is that all of their SOPs say in an emergency case the captain has to take the responsibility. And as well in the Hudson ditching, the copilot was responsible for flying the leg. After the birdstrike and all engines out, Sully took the responsibility withthe command “my plane”. This is common practice in CRM. However for airlines such as Lufthansa I do not know since they have the philosphy of every crew flight crew member has the “same” knowledge and abilities 😉

  9. alex says:

    Depends on the SOP and the situation, but, regardless of whether a situation is routine or emergency, the captain is always the ultimate authority and is held ultimately responsible for the safety of the flight (even when he or she is the “pilot monitoring”). That being said, most emergencies are not of the ‘”OMG we’re gonna die if we don’t walk on water for the next 2 minutes”. There’s usually quite a bit more time to figure out what’s wrong, choose a solution and implement it. Add to that all the variables and factors involved in bringing a transport category jet from cruise to a standstill at an airport and there is a good case to be made for having the FO fly the aircraft while the captain troubleshoots, evaluates, plans and coordinates with all the various parties that you have to work with in the event of an emergency (and there’s a lot of them, both inside the airplane and outside).

    Bottom line, just because the CA isn’t physically flying the airplane doesn’t mean he isn’t responsible. 😉

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