Hey everyone, this is for all the IFATC controllers out there but I was wondering when people call in low fuel… do you make them your number one priority and treat it like and emergency or do you reject them?
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My answer really depends on a number of situational factors, but…
I would argue that rejecting the plane is treating it like an emergency, at least in some ways. If you know for a fact you cannot accommodate the aircraft (or can try, but can’t guarantee that you’ll do it successfully), telling them to divert is the correct move. If they need to get somewhere in the least amount of time possible, oftentimes leaving them to their own devices outside of a structured (and usually lengthened) pattern is the way to go.
This is just my opinion though, I’m sure controllers have varying ways of making decisions.
Yeah well personally I think that some poeple just say divert without consintrating but it’s good to know you think about it ahaha
Generally i just tell people to divert as I’m often on approach and if there is a plane with <5 min of fuel it might be hard to get them in. If i dont have a lot of traffic or see an opertunity i try to take it and get the plane to its destination. If the pilot didnt bring enough fuel its the pilots’ mistake, so diverting people is fine.
How do you call in low fuel to Atc?
Hey,
There is a command in the command’s menu that sends ATC a command that sounds something like “Emergency fuel, 5 minutes remaining” or something like that!
Oh I’ve never seen that thanks
You’re welcome. Maybe that’s because you plan your fuel wisely? 🙂
Haha yeah I’ve never had a fuel scare
It really depends on the traffic levels and how far they are. If they’re close and I can fit them in, then I do my best. Otherwise, I recommend diverting. It’s a matter of when and where the situation occurs at least for me.
Yeah very very true sometimes if I only have like 2 planes inbound and close I tell them to go around and let the emergency guy land ahah
Yeah, I think the option only appears if you actually have low fuel :)
It would be cool one day if they ever put in emergencies. (Not self-activated ones because there would be an emergency aircraft every 5 mins). Maybe game generated. Just don’t wanna see it be abused.
Actually a very valid question. Most of the time, I try and accommodate. One time I had a calm enough session where I heard the desperate “zero minutes of fuel remaining”. I let them land on the opposite runway at that time, sent other traffic around, and it was all good.
There are situations where this cannot happen. In a busy radar session, sometimes I cannot find a gap to put a fuel emergency in. Hence why we can deny.
Depends - if they can land in the time then yes, otherwise divert if not possible.
Command menu?
That’s about as hard as it gets. Imagine some real World ATC controller tells this to the Planes Captain. Why not treat it like an Emergency, otherwise the Button “low Fuel” is useless.
Yeah, I also feel like ATC is often rejecting automatically without even trying even if this means additional vectoring for other planes.
Especially in IF with planes like the A340 where you end up with too little fuel even if you take as much as given in the flight plan, the fuel scarcity isn’t always the fault of the pilot and it can be extremely frustrating to be “rejected just like that” due to something like this.
I remember declaring fuel emergency and was sent to a hold circling before eventually making a final approach.
Unfortunately i ran of fuel before I made it to the runway😂😂😂
I always try to ensure i get emergencys into thier destination as fast as possible, but whenever thats not possible you have to remember that we as IFATC controllers are never trained for emergencys nor is infinite flight built for emergencys.