AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012 - 90

been an “aircraft in distress” under FAR 91.113(c) and had the right of way over all other traffic. I can’t help it—when reading a story like that, 30-some years of practicing aviation law kicks in. I start thinking of the accidents that could have been prevented had the pilot declared an emergency, and taken advantage of all sorts of pilot-friendly resources and the highest priority ATC service. I have been puzzled and saddened by the reluctance of general aviation pilots to speak up and acknowledge that they are dealing with an emergency. Bluntly: Too many shut up and die. Professional pilots, civilian and military, do not seem to suffer from this odd hesitation; they speak up and turn ATC into what amounts to an additional co-pilot. They have the crashfire-rescue equipment rolled out so that the crews are at the runway and ready when the airplane arrives, rather than mowing the grass or plowing snow. Most professional pilots get recurrent training every six months. Consequently,

available to you by declaring an emergency may mean you were negligent. With that in mind, let’s look at the reason GA pilots are unwilling to declare an emergency when they have one. It’s fear. That’s the only reason. For many, it’s the secret fear inside the gut of pilots who need to be seen as macho: “If I declare an emergency I’ll be telling the world that I’m not good enough to handle this on my own.” For some the fear is “paperwork” that they think they’ll have to fill out. Let’s dispose of that one fast: Reread Part 91.3. There isn’t any paperwork as a result of declaring an emergency. The myth comes from bad movies and misinformation passed along on the Internet. A few pilots fear that alerting the government that something has gone wrong will bring about a parade of horrible punishments. In our lives, we have gotten into trouble and been punished. We can easily imagine the FAA coming down on us.

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“If I declare an emergency I’ll be telling the world that I’m not good enough to handle this on my own.”
they do a good job of handling weather or equipment problems. Most GA pilots fly just an hour with an instructor, biennially; they don’t do as well when the fat hits the firewall. It would seem logical that because GA pilots would most benefit from the assistance provided when an emergency is declared, that they would be quite willing to do so. They aren’t. For years we have carefully pointed out the huge safety benefits of speaking up when something is badly amiss, yet we clearly are not reaching a certain proportion of GA pilots. So, I’ll try a different approach, speaking from the perspective of the attorney who may have to defend those pilots who won’t declare an emergency, following their unsuccessful episode dealing with a serious weather or aircraft problem. Let’s start with the basics: As pilot in command you are responsible for the safety of your passengers. From a legal and ethical standpoint, that generally means you have a duty to use available resources to complete that flight safely. If you have an emergency and crash, your failure to speak up and get the resources
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What is more difficult, if not impossible, is to imagine that our reaction to the situation we are facing will cause all aboard to be badly hurt or die. We’re way too cool for that to happen. Thus, fear causes too many of us to try and handle the emergency without asking for help that could make the difference between a successful landing and a smoking hole. Therefore, let’s look directly at fear. Why? Because pilots too often worry about the wrong things. Rather than being afraid of not appearing macho or of coming to the attention of the FAA, the real risk they are facing—the one about which they should tremble in their boots—is how this thing is going to look in the NTSB report. “Am I going to look stupid because I didn’t get help?” As a behavioral motivator, that’s the right fear to have and act on. Of course, the next step in that concern is the fear of being sued. It should be considered as conjoined with worrying about how this is going to look on the NTSB report. If you are afraid of being sued, keep in mind that if you don’t have an accident, you are not likely to be sued for causing

90 • JANUARY 2012

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2012

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