Sydney Airport triggers 'full emergency response' after United Airlines mayday call

[Admin]

Police activated a "full emergency response" and roads around Sydney Airport were closed after a United Airlines flight from Los Angeles made a mayday call above the Harbour City this morning.

 

Flight UA839 and the 239 people on board landed safely, despite the pilot reporting a problem just after 6:00am.

 

Authorities said the 787-900 Dreamliner — which was bound for Sydney — was running low on fuel, and the pilot was following procedure.

 

Safety regulator Airservices Australia said no passengers were at risk during the landing and that the mayday call was triggered automatically because the plane's fuel gauge dropped below a certain level.

 

An Airservices Australia spokesperson said instances like this were "not unusual".

 

"It doesn't mean you have no fuel left, and you have to land right away," she said.

 

"You still have a lot of fuel left."

 

NSW Police said major roads around the airport were closed as a precaution just after 6.30am, but reopened shortly afterwards.

 

On the ground, paramedics and fire crews were on stand-by but in the air, many of the passengers had no idea that anything was wrong.

 

There were reports that dry ice was leaking in the plane's cabin however Airservices Australia said those claims were false.

 

 

 

[nomadpete]

Another triumph for CASA

 

Still, one wonders how a large aircraft got down to its last 30 minutes of fuel. At least, I assume that was the trigger for the 'Mayday'. Maybe they were stuck in a prolonged holding pattern.

 

 

[kgwilson]

A fuel mayday call (I assume) as the pilot or the computer was following the new stupid CASA rule. The cost for closing all of the roads would have been many thousands, when what he may have done before the rule was advised ATC that he only had x minutes of fuel left and needed priority for landing. Of course the pilot would be acutely aware of the fuel situation and his landing time so using his good judgement and allowing for a go around may not have said anything.

 

 

[Admin]

Would this situation really call for a Mayday call? I would have thought an Emergency call was more appropriate

 

 

[Yenn]

CASA says Mayday, if there is less than 30 mins or it appears that way.

 

 

[pmccarthy]

I reckon they will reverse this reg. when they see how much chaos it is causing.

 

 

[old man emu]

According to the Arrivals board at Kingsford-Smith, UA839 was due at 06:45 am and actually landed at 06:37 am.

 

Closing the roads around K-S at 6:30 am would have sent the whole south and southwest Sydney road system into gridlock, as well as affecting the traffic coming from Manly-Warringah and the Lower North Shore.

 

Good one CASA!

 

 

[Downunder]

CASA, the king of ambiguity...... when a mayday is not a mayday....

 

To me it is an obvious Pan-pan. There is NO imminent risk to life..... A pan-pan would have given the aircraft priority.

 

Continuing to use mayday in non life threatening situations devalues the actual sense and urgency of real mayday's.

 

 

[Camel]

Casa know more about nothing than most people ! I don't think CASA can claim any credit for any safety achievements ! Would like to hear of any !

 

 

[Admin]

Yes, I was taught that:

 

Pan Pan Pan - advising everyone of a situation

 

Emergency Emergency Emergency - Non imminent life threatening situation

 

Mayday Mayday Mayday - Life threatening situation IS imminent

 

 

[old man emu]

We might be wrong as to why the Mayday call was made.

 

From Fuel requirements for Australian aircraft "The new rules will commence on 8 November 2018.", and "The declaration is an internationally recognised standard aligning Australia with the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization."

 

 

[Birdseye]

There have been a number of issues in the past where aircraft with low fuel states have failed to convey the urgency (often due to language issues, sometimes due to unhelpful US controllers) of their situation. I'm guessing that this is the response from ICAO. Bear in mind that they have to cater for the worst case scenario of language and technical appreciation. However, I still think its a misuse of the Mayday term.

 

I don't know who taught Ian, but they were incorrect from the international position.

 

 

[M61A1]

I reckon they will reverse this reg. when they see how much chaos it is causing.

I reckon they will all be having a congratulatory meeting about how well their new reg works, how great it was that no-one was hurt because of their reg, and then be looking at how they can build on it and expand it.

 

 

[red750]

News reports suggest that a 42 minute delay at LAX may have contributed to the fuel shortage, and a spokesperson said that a MAYDAY FUEL call is different to MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY.

 

 

[kgwilson]

As far as the CASA 29/18 Civil Aviation (Fuel Requirements) Instrument 2018 instrument goes when the minimum is reached the pilot must call "MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY FUEL" and it is specified a Distress call. How is that different to a normal Mayday distress call?

 

 

[poteroo]

There are many factors conspiring against common sense here. The 1st is probably the company beancounters urging operations to carry as close to the absolute minimum reserves possible - in the interests of additional revenue. The 2nd is that with ever increasing longhaul flights - it's much more likely that either the en route winds will be different, or the destination weather will change and require an alternate, or that the destination traffic will become limiting... amongst a few other factors.

 

The United flight must have been aware that they had used a few more tonnes of fuel prior to their LAX departure, but thought they'd 'make it up' during the cruise. Clearly they didn't make up enough. But, they flew past Brisbane, and could have ducked in there with adequate reserves. I think they might have just decided to chance their arm with getting a quicker approach into Sydney - which didn't happen either. The holes in the cheese begin to line up.

 

 

[old man emu]

As far as the CASA 29/18 Civil Aviation (Fuel Requirements) Instrument 2018 instrument goes when the minimum is reached the pilot must call "MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY FUEL" and it is specified a Distress call. How is that different to a normal Mayday distress call?

Because the caller clearly indicates that the problem is related to fuel consumption, and not something that imminently catastrophic like control failure. I agree that the use of "Mayday" in a situation where one is starting to use fixed and variable reserves of fuel might be a bit over the top, and "Emergency" would suit the situation better.

 

The thing that went wrong for Sydneysiders was that as soon as a Mayday was called, the disaster action plan was put into action, and part of that plan would be to clear ground vehicles from the vicinity of the runways. Thus the closure of several major traffic arteries. I wonder if the Airport rail loop was closed as well.

 

 

[turboplanner]

CASA announced the call as “Mayday Fuel” and also that this was to bring Australia into line with ICAO.

 

However they could have explained the new terminology better.

 

 

[alf jessup]

Probably watched flight radar and seen he would put in a holding pattern for an hour or so. Recon he put the Mayday fuel call in to get priorty slot.

 

Fill out the paperwork later, oops computer. Glitch CASA.

 

Hey United, can I get my bonus now for all the fuel I saved and engine time I saved.

 

Love Capt’n

 

 

[onetrack]

Hey, it's a fact of life today - all these new models don't do anywhere near the claimed fuel mileage, that the manufacturers state in the glossy brochures ...

 

 

[Downunder]

The thing that went wrong for Sydneysiders was that as soon as a Mayday was called, the disaster action plan was put into action, and part of that plan would be to clear ground vehicles from the vicinity of the runways. Thus the closure of several major traffic arteries. I wonder if the Airport rail loop was closed as well.

My guess is that on the ground emergency services are now unaware of the TWO standards of mayday that now exist and were reacting to the former, traditional sense and not the lower risk MAYDAY FUEL.......

 

Perhaps after this success, casa will introduce MAYDAY TOILET for those busting to go....

 

 

[facthunter]

The mayday call is much more appropriate in a dense traffic controlled environment. There's been planes and lives lost when pilots have failed to "require" expediated landing clearance. Getting people through other people's levels and maintaining separation isn't easy. Much less evident in our operations how relevant itis Regarding pulling a stunt to get in quicker I'm sure the fuel remaining at the terminal will ne assessed in the circumstances AND why the reserves were not there if they should have been.

 

 

[turboplanner]

The mayday call is much more appropriate in a dense traffic controlled environment. There's been planes and lives lost when pilots have failed to "require" expediated landing clearance. Getting people through other people's levels and maintaining separation isn't easy. Much less evident in our operations how relevant itis Regarding pulling a stunt to get in quicker I'm sure the fuel remaining at the terminal will ne assessed in the circumstances AND why the reserves were not there if they should have been.

Are you talking about the "Mayday Fuel" call, or the "MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY" call?

 

 

[Downunder]

The mayday call is much more appropriate in a dense traffic controlled environment. There's been planes and lives lost when pilots have failed to "require" expediated landing clearance. Getting people through other people's levels and maintaining separation isn't easy. Much less evident in our operations how relevant itis Regarding pulling a stunt to get in quicker I'm sure the fuel remaining at the terminal will ne assessed in the circumstances AND why the reserves were not there if they should have been.

Are you saying "PAN PAN FUEL"." 30 minutes of fuel remaining" would be ignored?

 

 

[Jaba-who]

As far as the CASA 29/18 Civil Aviation (Fuel Requirements) Instrument 2018 instrument goes when the minimum is reached the pilot must call "MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY FUEL" and it is specified a Distress call. How is that different to a normal Mayday distress call?

Nope. It clearly says when the pilot calculates that the fuel that will be left on landing is below the fixed reserve NOT when you reach the reserve. So in theory this could be quite some time and distance from the landing.

 

“ 5) The pilot in command must declare a situation of emergency fuel when the calculated usable fuel predicted to be available upon landing at the nearest aerodrome where a safe landing can be made is less than the fixed fuel reserve for the flight. The pilot in command must declare an emergency fuel state by broadcasting MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY FUEL.

 

Note The emergency fuel declaration is a distress message.”

 

CASA announced the call as “Mayday Fuel” and also that this was to bring Australia into line with ICAO.However they could have explained the new terminology better.

Well not quite.

And clearly says “MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY (3 times) FUEL”. Not “Mayday fuel “.

 

And given that a real Mayday call is then repeated 3 times -ie 9 MAYDAYS then odds on that the same pattern will get followed for this call.

 

Which in the real world means that by them time the listener gets to the second or third “Mayday” they are likely to be thinking “emergency”, brain in go-fast mode, miss the fuel bit completely and be off on a tangent of a real emergency management not just thinking “Ho Hum, OK let’s see if we can expedite the entry”.