Ever wondered what happens if someone falls ill on a plane, an engine dies or an emergency landing is required? Well, this should help answer those questions…
The vast majority of flights pass uneventfully, barring the odd bit of turbulence and maybe the first choice of sandwich running out. But very, very occasionally, an emergency situation kicks in. So what happens when it does?
Aaaaargh! Emergency! Are we all going to die?
Probably not, because most emergency situations can be dealt with pretty easily by pilots and crew, who have undergone ludicrous amounts of training for foreseeable dicey situations.
There’s also a big spectrum of emergencies, whether a passenger falling ill, an engine giving up the ghost or the plane being on fire. All but the most serious can usually be handled without passengers knowing anything has gone wrong.
So, someone’s fallen ill…
Flight attendants aren’t nurses or doctors, but they do undergo enough medical training to administer CPR and spot when respiratory problems or faintness is potentially dangerous. When a passenger falls ill, they’ll do what they can, perhaps asking if there’s a medical professional on board who can volunteer to help.
There is medical kit on board, but it is designed to stabilise until landing is possible.
Meanwhile, the captain is going to be in touch with contracted ground consultation services, which have doctors on their teams, to work out the best plan of action. And the captain makes the decision on whether to divert for an extremely costly emergency landing. Which way the decision goes will depend on whether nearby airports are appropriate and available, as well as the condition of the passenger.
What if an engine dies?
As long as it’s just one engine going kaput, everything’s probably going to be alright. Modern planes are designed to fly for long distances on just one engine. The Boeing 777, for example, is certified to fly for up to five-and-a-half hour with a solitary functioning engine. Pilots will, in conjunction with ground crew, arrange to divert for an ‘emergency’ landing at the nearest practical airport – and no-one involved will be especially stressed about it.
If all the engines fail, it’s glide time. Due to the altitude planes fly at, it’s often possible to glide to a nearby airport and land relatively safely after air traffic control has cleared the way.
Otherwise, the pilot will be scouting for flat non-airport places to land – something regularly tackled in training – and trying to get the engines to kick back in once at a lower altitude.
And if cabin pressure is lost?
A puncture to the exterior or a fire can be much more serious than the loss of an engine – mainly because people will pass out very quickly without supplementary oxygen at the sort of altitude where jet planes cruise.
This is when the oxygen masks drop down from above – but they’ll only give you enough oxygen for about 20 minutes maximum. The plane, at this point, will be in a steep descent – that’s because the pilots are trying to get it below 10,000ft, where the air is breathable again, as soon as possible.
What happens in an emergency landing?
There’s a difference between urgent (“Pan-Pan”) and distressed (“Mayday”) emergencies. In the former, there’s a problem that requires assistance but not necessarily straight away. In the latter, it’s an immediate scramble to get the plane down safely.
Pilots will switch the transponder to 7700, which “squawks” to all air traffic control stations in the area to alert them to a plane than needs prioritising. Air traffic control and the captain will then come up with a plan of action.
Many airports that don’t get much traffic are much bigger than they need to be, precisely to accommodate such emergency landings. These include Halifax Stanfield in Canada, Santa Maria in the Azores and Wake Island in the Pacific. Meanwhile, other airports are set aside for security emergencies such as potential hijackings. In the UK, this is Stansted, at least partially because there are RAF bases in close proximity.
This article was originally written for National Geographic Traveller UK.
More air travel
Other air travel stories on Planet Whitley include:
- How to get the best seat in economy.
- In-flight health: How to look after yourself on a plane.
