Allegiant Air pilot pleads with tower to make emergency landing

[marble falls]

Allegiant Air pilot pleads with tower to make emergency landing


NORTH DAKOTA -- An Allegiant Airlines pilot declared a fuel emergency and had to land at a North Dakota airport even though the airport was closed for the Blue Angels practicing for their weekend air show, reports CBS News' Kris Van Cleave.

The pilot of Allegiant 426 can be heard arguing with the airport tower at the closed Fargo's Hector International Airport saying he doesn't have enough fuel to divert the plane. In an audio recording of the incident the tower can also be heard scolding the pilot.

"Your company should have been aware of this for a number of months," the tower controller can be heard saying.

"Ok, we'll follow up on that," the pilot responds.

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Pilots question safety of Allegiant Airlines

Allegiant released a statement about the incident saying they are investigating.

"At this time, we are coordinating with the FAA and the airport to investigate all channels of communication regarding the flight and the circumstances leading to the declaration of emergency," Allegiant said.

In a statement the FAA said the Blue Angels were practicing in that airspace that day for their air show. There was a temporary flight restriction covering the airspace from noon to 5 p.m.

"The Fargo airport management had notified airlines of the planned airspace closure, practice and air show as far back as December, and NOTAMs (Notices to Airmen) were issued 72 hours in advance," the FAA said. "It is a requirement for pilots to review NOTAMs before flight."

FAA said for this reason, all arriving flights had scheduled arrival times. Allegiant 426 missed its scheduled time, as it was an hour late departing from Las Vegas.

"Knowing the airspace was being used by the Blue Angels, the Fargo tower was waiting for the flight to come in, expecting it to divert to Grand Forks," the FAA said. "The pilots of Allegiant 426 would have been talking to the FAA's Minneapolis Center before entering Fargo's airspace, and would have been well aware of the Blue Angels practice."

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Pilot pleads to land on closed runway

FAA said that the Fargo tower talked to Allegiant's operations and was assured that the flight did have an extra 45 minutes of fuel on board, as required by FAA regulation. This extra 45 minutes is required on all flights to enable diversions, if necessary.

Allegiant's operation center told the FAA the flight had an extra 45 minutes of fuel on board, but the pilot said otherwise, and requested landing at Fargo. It is unclear how many people were on board the flight.

The Blue Angels were moved to a holding area, and the flight landed without incident.

Allegiant has had a series of mechanical issues this summer, including smoke in the cockpit of a flight. And another where passengers evacuated to the wing.

A few weeks ago, CBS News reported that pilots of Allegiant were accusing the airline of cutting safety along with costs.

In a letter to the board of Allegiant Airlines, the union representing its pilots complained about what it says is the company's bare minimum approach to maintenance and safety.

The letter cited 38 potentially dangerous incidents between January and March of 2015 including engine failures, pressurization problems, smoke in the cockpit and radar issues.
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[Major Nikon]

1. The FAA was right, and the airline and pilots were being duplicitous

Unless you are a fucking stupid pilot, you check NOTAMs before you depart. The company's dispatch would have also checked NOTAMs, and per the conversation was evidently notified months in advance by the airport authority in Fargo. In other words, there's no way the airline and the pilots aboard would not have known the airport was going to be closed to them, especially since they missed their landing reservation which they would have also known.

But let's assume for a moment that the airline and the pilots in question were just too fucking stupid to know all these things (even though that's not what happened). If they didn't have fuel to go anywhere else (and even if they did), they could declare an emergency, which despite the scary sounding connotation is actually quite common in aviation. After they declared an emergency, the FAA would have cleared the runway and allowed them to land. The FAA actually encourages pilots to declare an emergency if they are apprehensive about their safety for any reason.

So why didn't they want to declare an emergency? Because declaring an emergency requires a written report to be filed with the FAA in the event of any deviation from FAA rules, which this most certainly was.

So the airlines' and the pilots' plan all along was simply to launch knowing they had missed their reservation and knowing the airport would be closed to them, and simply expected the FAA to deal with it when they got there without declaring an emergency and without deviating to another airport. The FAA controllers called them on their bullshit. The flight in question also flew right by Aberdeen where they could have landed and refueled, knowing they couldn't land at KFAR.

[Suburban Warrior]

2. Excellent Response

I will just add Allegiant Airlines has had a number of mechanical issues that required the crew to declare an emergency recently. There are definitely some problems with this airline.

http://www.aeroinside.com/incidents/airline/allegiant

[turbinetree]

3. What's really classic.............................

is that someone is playing a deadly game and as a mechanic in the industry for over 35 years this is unexceptable

[Major Nikon]

4. I suspect at a minimum the pilot in charge will have to answer for this and probably the airline

It's not that uncommon that pilots and airlines try to game the system. The reason they do this is because most of the time the FAA lets them get away with it. This time they went a little too far and it made the national news, which will compel the FAA to investigate and I'm pretty sure the pilot and the airline are not going to like the result. The pilot will probably loose his ticket for at least 30 days and the airline will be looking at fines.

[turbinetree]

5. Correct.......................

and would like to add the dispatcher's manifest on weight and balance and fuel was handed to the pilots prior to departure in the ready room along with the weather reports and everything else-------------again this is unacceptable
Had to deal with the FAA on a couple of occasions concerning a ETOPS flight, because of a generator