Emergency! . . . but not really.

When I was young I wanted to be a firefighter, pilot, or astronaut. I managed to do two of the three and that’s not bad. The pilot interest came from going to airshows. The firefighter part came from watching the TV show “Emergency!” As I re-watch the shows after joining the fire service I am amazed at Captain Stanley’s ability to show up, decide what needs to be done, and do it without drawing undue resources or using excessive radio traffic.

Which brings me to the radio traffic I heard on the common traffic advisory frequency while on a recent practical test. An instructor at a nearby airport was practicing emergency landings with a student and almost every time the instructor turned base a “simulated emergency landing” radio call was made. I say almost every time because about a third of the time the word “simulated” was left out, leading to the instructor making another radio call to clarify the practice status.

There is a simple fix to the need to remember to say “simulated” every time; don’t even use the word “emergency” unless you actually have one. “Short approach” works, although you can certainly make the case that no additional information is required.

Want to fly over a non-towered field and have your student spiral down for a simulated emergency? Announce “spiraling down” and which runway you intend to use. This is a great teaching technique, but don’t spiral into a busy pattern and make sure you fly the proper direction of traffic for the runway of intended landing.

Let’s keep practicing those emergency procedures and keep creating scenarios that make our students think rather than just read a checklist. But let’s save the “E” word for those times that it’s actually needed, but as always make sure your students know that if they need to declare an emergency they should do it without hesitation.