An Allegiant Air flight ran dangerously low on fuel last week as it circled an airport in North Dakota that was actually closed so the Navy's Blue Angels could practice for a forthcoming air show.
The pilot told the tower that he didn't have enough fuel to make it to a back-up airport, so he was forced to declare an emergency to clear airspace for a landing at Fargo's Hector International Airport.
At one point, an air traffic controller rebuked the airline for its apparent ignorance of the airport closing, which the Federal Aviation Administration provides notice of far in advance.
Allegiant officials confirmed a pilot declared a fuel emergency at the Fargo airport but offered few details. The FAA said it is looking into the incident.
If the aircraft had landed at its scheduled time, it would have arrived 12 minutes before the airport was closed five hours for the Blue Angels practice session, the airline schedule and notice of the FAA airport closing shows. But the flight's departure out of Las Vegas was delayed by more than an hour.
That delay guaranteed the flight could not make Fargo before it closed at noon central time. But the Allegiant pilot inexplicably continued to that destination.
The pilot contacted the Fargo tower a little before 1 p.m. to tell air traffic control that Allegiant had been trying to get in touch with airport officials, apparently by telephone.
"We don't have … enough fuel to go anywhere else," the pilot told the Fargo tower.
The Fargo tower gave the pilot a phone number to try, and then told him the airspace would be clear enough to land if he could wait another 20 minutes.
"Yeah, I don't have 20 minutes," the pilot said.
The tower then recommended another airport 70 miles to the north, the recording shows.
"Yeah, listen, we're bingo fuel here in about probably three to four minutes and I got to come in and land," the pilot said.
"Bingo fuel" is a military term meaning the pilot doesn't have enough fuel for anything but returning to base and cannot continue on a mission.
The tower told the Allegiant flight the only way he could get permission to land at the closed airport was to contact the Minneapolis air traffic center to declare an emergency.
"Okay," the pilot said. "I am going to give them another three minutes. … I'll see if we can get this coordinated."
The aircraft made a safe landing shortly after 1 p.m.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/a ... cy/2238936
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/trave ... losed.html
An Allegiant plane makes emergency landing in a closed airport with 3 minutes fuel left
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An Allegiant plane makes emergency landing in a closed airport with 3 minutes fuel left
André
ex Sabena #26567
ex Sabena #26567
Re: An Allegiant plane makes emergency landing in a closed airport with 3 minutes fuel left
That's aviation reporting for you! The plane did NOT have only three minutes of fuel left, it had three minutes before it reached fuel levels low enough to declare a fuel emergency. So at least another 30 minutes at that point.
Re: An Allegiant plane makes emergency landing in a closed airport with 3 minutes fuel left
Both Bloomberg and CBS state, with audio proof, that the crew told ATC they could not wait 20 minutes and they could not divert to an alternate airport 70 miles away. It's not specified however when that call "Yeah, I don't have 20 minutes" was done.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... iew-by-faa
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/allegiant-a ... d-airport/
Military U.S. forums state that fighters use "Bingo Fuel" for: "we have to abort our mission immediately or we don't have enough fuel to come back and land". With additional remark "don't use this call in civil aviation, as it will confuse..."
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... iew-by-faa
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/allegiant-a ... d-airport/
Military U.S. forums state that fighters use "Bingo Fuel" for: "we have to abort our mission immediately or we don't have enough fuel to come back and land". With additional remark "don't use this call in civil aviation, as it will confuse..."
Re: An Allegiant plane makes emergency landing in a closed airport with 3 minutes fuel left
Statement Allegiant Air regarding Flight 426
Allegiant’s investigation into the events that led to a declaration of emergency on flight 426 from Las Vegas McCarran International Airport (LAS) to Hector International Airport (FAR) on July 23, 2015 has resulted in the following determinations of fact. The company and the FAA found that the pilot operated flight 426 in a safe manner and within the bounds of all regulations. Allegiant has been in constant communication with the FAA during this investigation and has not been advised of any additional surveillance or heightened oversight by the FAA.
The safety of passengers and employees is Allegiant’s number one priority. “Allegiant works closely with the FAA on a daily basis to continually monitor and share data regarding our operations,” said Eric Gust, Allegiant’s vice president of safety and security.
With regard to the specific circumstances surrounding flight 426, Allegiant’s chief operating officer Steve Harfst said, “The NOTAM provided for this airport clearly exempted scheduled air carriers from the airfield closure, and it wasn’t until the aircrew contacted Fargo tower directly that they were advised that the airfield was closed to all traffic. This was an issue for multiple commercial and non-commercial aircraft attempting to land at Fargo during this period and not just Allegiant. Our captain exercised sound judgment in the operation of his aircraft.”
After a full and thorough review by our safety team under the direction of Gust, the following determinations of fact have been made:
• The aircraft was dispatched with reserve fuel in compliance with company standards and all FAA regulations.
• There were 142 passengers and two lap children on board, and six crew members on board the MD-80.
• At the time of departure, there was a posted temporary flight restriction (TFR) for Fargo for 5 hours and there was also an FAA notice to airman (NOTAM) posted for Fargo that indicated that the airport remained open to scheduled air carriers.
• During the time of the posted TFR closure 15 flights, both commercial and non-commercial, landed at Fargo. Two scheduled air carriers were cleared to land approximately 15 minutes after flight 426, and multiple aircraft landed at Fargo prior to the approach of flight 426.
• Approximately 10 minutes prior to flight 426 landing, another scheduled air carrier experienced the same confusion about the TFR and NOTAM. While on approach, they queried air traffic control (ATC) as to the airport’s closure and highlighted the NOTAM, which excluded the closure to scheduled air carriers. They were not given the option to declare an emergency in order to continue their landing in Fargo and were forced to divert to another airport.
• The company was aware of the TFR at the airport in advance, and despite the exception for scheduled air carriers, Allegiant scheduled flight 426 to arrive prior to the closure. Before departing Las Vegas, a passenger experienced a medical emergency and was transported by ambulance to a local hospital. This delayed the flight causing it to arrive at Fargo after the posted TFR began.
• Upon approach to Fargo, flight 426 was cleared by air traffic control to begin descent to 6,000 feet to be vectored for landing. At this point, flight 426 was on profile to land with the originally planned landing fuel. It was not until flight 426 started their descent that ATC stated that the airport was closed. At that point flight 426 stopped the descent at 14,000 feet to conserve fuel and coordinate a landing clearance with Fargo station personnel as per ATC’s instructions.
• Flight 426 spent approximately 18 minutes coordinating with the Fargo station personnel, who were attempting to connect by telephone with ATC, to establish a landing clearance as directed by ATC.
• Fargo station was not able to establish contact with the phone numbers provided. At this point, flight 426 was now 2-3 minutes from starting to use their reserve fuel.
• The pilot was then given the option to either declare an emergency to land in Fargo or divert to Grand Forks. Although sufficient fuel remained to divert to Grand Forks, flight 426 made the decision to declare an emergency, allowing the flight to land immediately at Fargo in order to avoid utilizing reserve fuel.
• The flight landed safely at 1:02 p.m. CDT with approximately 42 minutes of reserve fuel remaining.
Source:
http://algtinfo.com/
Allegiant’s investigation into the events that led to a declaration of emergency on flight 426 from Las Vegas McCarran International Airport (LAS) to Hector International Airport (FAR) on July 23, 2015 has resulted in the following determinations of fact. The company and the FAA found that the pilot operated flight 426 in a safe manner and within the bounds of all regulations. Allegiant has been in constant communication with the FAA during this investigation and has not been advised of any additional surveillance or heightened oversight by the FAA.
The safety of passengers and employees is Allegiant’s number one priority. “Allegiant works closely with the FAA on a daily basis to continually monitor and share data regarding our operations,” said Eric Gust, Allegiant’s vice president of safety and security.
With regard to the specific circumstances surrounding flight 426, Allegiant’s chief operating officer Steve Harfst said, “The NOTAM provided for this airport clearly exempted scheduled air carriers from the airfield closure, and it wasn’t until the aircrew contacted Fargo tower directly that they were advised that the airfield was closed to all traffic. This was an issue for multiple commercial and non-commercial aircraft attempting to land at Fargo during this period and not just Allegiant. Our captain exercised sound judgment in the operation of his aircraft.”
After a full and thorough review by our safety team under the direction of Gust, the following determinations of fact have been made:
• The aircraft was dispatched with reserve fuel in compliance with company standards and all FAA regulations.
• There were 142 passengers and two lap children on board, and six crew members on board the MD-80.
• At the time of departure, there was a posted temporary flight restriction (TFR) for Fargo for 5 hours and there was also an FAA notice to airman (NOTAM) posted for Fargo that indicated that the airport remained open to scheduled air carriers.
• During the time of the posted TFR closure 15 flights, both commercial and non-commercial, landed at Fargo. Two scheduled air carriers were cleared to land approximately 15 minutes after flight 426, and multiple aircraft landed at Fargo prior to the approach of flight 426.
• Approximately 10 minutes prior to flight 426 landing, another scheduled air carrier experienced the same confusion about the TFR and NOTAM. While on approach, they queried air traffic control (ATC) as to the airport’s closure and highlighted the NOTAM, which excluded the closure to scheduled air carriers. They were not given the option to declare an emergency in order to continue their landing in Fargo and were forced to divert to another airport.
• The company was aware of the TFR at the airport in advance, and despite the exception for scheduled air carriers, Allegiant scheduled flight 426 to arrive prior to the closure. Before departing Las Vegas, a passenger experienced a medical emergency and was transported by ambulance to a local hospital. This delayed the flight causing it to arrive at Fargo after the posted TFR began.
• Upon approach to Fargo, flight 426 was cleared by air traffic control to begin descent to 6,000 feet to be vectored for landing. At this point, flight 426 was on profile to land with the originally planned landing fuel. It was not until flight 426 started their descent that ATC stated that the airport was closed. At that point flight 426 stopped the descent at 14,000 feet to conserve fuel and coordinate a landing clearance with Fargo station personnel as per ATC’s instructions.
• Flight 426 spent approximately 18 minutes coordinating with the Fargo station personnel, who were attempting to connect by telephone with ATC, to establish a landing clearance as directed by ATC.
• Fargo station was not able to establish contact with the phone numbers provided. At this point, flight 426 was now 2-3 minutes from starting to use their reserve fuel.
• The pilot was then given the option to either declare an emergency to land in Fargo or divert to Grand Forks. Although sufficient fuel remained to divert to Grand Forks, flight 426 made the decision to declare an emergency, allowing the flight to land immediately at Fargo in order to avoid utilizing reserve fuel.
• The flight landed safely at 1:02 p.m. CDT with approximately 42 minutes of reserve fuel remaining.
Source:
http://algtinfo.com/