My name is Josh and I want to discuss something that I think is a big issue in IF. I was Flying today from Krakow to Warsaw. I know the airport would be busy. Every thing was quite good an THEN the ATC putted me into a holding pattern. I stayed in the pattern for 1 hours and obviously my fuel starts going down. So I did the right thing and declared a fuel emergency. AND GUESS WHAT. THE ATC IGNORED ME FOR LIKE 15 MINS. I declared the emergency 10 times or so and I am still getting ignored. To get ignored in a so critical situation is just Unrealistic asf. Please IF and IFATC members please try to take those situations seriously. We all want the game to be realistic as possible.
Maximize the throttle and reduce the remaining fuel time to the minimum. Then, if you request it, ATC expects you to know that it is more serious; in the past, to receive ATC’s first priority, I maximized the throttle and reported an extreme figure of 1 minute of emergency fuel.
You’re always free to divert. Simply put a new destination to your fpl and… ask to divert to the selected airport, which then will show up in your ATC command panel.
Declaring an emergency doesn’t guarantee any priority unfortunately.. it gives us the option to either tell you to divert or expect no delay. Since especially in a large traffic pattern with many aircraft we can’t give priority in some cases..
according to FAA, it’s actually quite the opposite.
declaring an emergency gives you priority handling and allows you to deviate from any rule to the extent that keeps the aircraft safe.
deviating from rules in IF, even in emergency situations is not allowed, but priority handling shouldve been given and ATC shouldve been clearing the airspace for emergency aircrafts.
Is up the controller discretion to attend any low fuel/emergency situation, up to his best judgment in how heavy the traffic is or not. IF is not a FAA dependency.
@Captain_Josh12, it seems quite a frustrating experience overall. And that is honestly understandable. I haven’t played IF today, nor was I there at the time of your approach, but based on what you said and my experience within these kinds of situations (which, of course, aren’t always the exact same, but are still pretty similar), I’ll try to answer with some points.
Whenever you’re flying to the hub, my biggest advice is to set much more fuel than usual, if able. Of course, this might not always be possible, or in extreme cases like hour-long holds, it might still get very low. But this will be quite helpful, as not only would you have more fuel to hold, go around, or similar, but even divert if necessary.
You mentioned that you stated your fuel emergency and requested diversion a few times, but ATC ignored you. For this precise thing, seeing the exact situation via your or the ATC’s replay is ideal, but what I’ll say here is that, based on how it was described, it sounds unusual. If you’re flying in a busy airspace, the best thing for you as a pilot isn’t fuel, isn’t landing skills, or anything like that: it’s patience. You will need to expect much longer response times, as you’re definitely not the only one in the airspace. So, as a pilot, it’s good not to spam or similar (not saying you did). At the same time, though, being ignored for > 15 minutes is surely not good either.
The best way to deal with this under “more normal” circumstances (hence, ATC replying quicker) is to first plan to have more fuel, then if delays get longer than expected, decide from there if to divert or not, having a diversion airport well in mind already. As seen here, it might not always work, but it can definitely help.
These two messages by you, Ryan and Levi, need a little more clarification, I feel.
The first thing to say is that Infinite Flight isn’t the FAA, nor does it strictly follow any IRL agency, company or similar rule. It is based on true scenarios, but doesn’t always work. Especially not in a busy airport/hub, which, to use a word the OP has used, is far from realistic as a whole. Both as ATCs and pilots, we need to adapt to the simulator’s environment, with its rules and procedures, finding a balance with realism as well, of course.
When a plane declares an emergency for fuel to ATC, common sense has to be applied by both parties. As an ATC, I will check how many minutes of fuel are remaining, and from there, act accordingly. Priority can be guaranteed, but only to a certain extent. If the plane is allowed to land at the airport they were already heading to, they can be granted priority and other “special treatments” that are good to keep in mind, such as avoiding a Go Around at all costs (in exchange for holding departures longer during the time the emergency is landing). At the hub, though, that is a whole other story: traffic levels are extremely high, a long pattern (plus holdings, many times), and an established sequence is present. Giving priority to someone who is holding, so relatively far from the airport’s nearbies, at a high altitude and with a busy final approach, is often impossible. Or, it’s possible, but you would need to hold all other planes for a while, which has only negative results (other emergencies, longer approaches for everyone, and so on).
This is why, if you’re found in a situation like this, with low fuel and at the hub, it’s best to divert.
Finally, answering Aaditya here, the Appeals Team do not handle such things. While we do gladly provide feedback, as that’s our main goal, that feedback is meant for violation-related situations.
IFATC Moderators often handle internal and more serious situations. The only team left I can think of is IFATC Supervisors, but you would need to find a specific supervisor available to review the whole situation, which takes time and energy and can’t always be done, as there are other matters we deal with daily.
Quite a long message, I know. But I just wanted to answer as many points as possible based on what I know, or feel about these situations
no, we are not governed by FAA, but i was giving a general understanding.
what would’ve happened if he ran out of fuel? he crashes or gets a violation. someone should not have to be in that situation once an emergency is declared.
OR
ATC shouldve said divert, at the bare minimum. wouldve been hard to divert since he was in a 380 anyway.
Hence why we give the option for pilots to divert and only clear them for landing at the airport only if we can and absolutely sure it will not cause any disturbance for other pilots.. I mostly control hubs and we try to accommodate pilot requests, but if you have only 20 mins of fuel and you are far away the best thing to do is to divert you..
This is another thing people get wrong, when you declare an emergency we only acknowledge that emergency and we are allowing YOU the pilot to decide what to do, the pilot is supposed to decide whether he wants to continue the approach or divert, if he wants to divert, he must send a message requesting diversion.. Tower can instruct an aircraft to reccomend diverting but the pilot is th3 one who has to make that chouce.. Hope this helps.
Every player who goes under training in IFATC knows how to deal with every type of situation regardless if the pilot did NOT prepare enough fuel to go on a major hub knowing there will be traffic, knowing there will be delays and holding. If the controller cannot accommodate a plane because he went kamikaze and drain all his fuel just to get priority, is not the controllers fault, is the pilot negligence.
