US4 min(s) read
Florida Learjet crash: ATC's 'what do you need?' explained
.jpg_I4Ebof?tr=cr-0.338.2730.3068,f-webp,q-70,w-100)
Tragic details continue to emerge after the Learjet crash in Florida that killed nine people.
As the identities of those killed start to emerge, more and more questions are being asked about the incident and the moments that led up to it.
Experts have given their opinion on the fatal Florida Learjet crash
The plane crashed in West Palm Beach, Florida, on November 1, creating a huge fireball and leaving behind a massive crater in the road.
What it didn’t leave behind was much debris, but there are reasons why that might be.
Video footage showed the horrific moment in detail, as the plane crashed ‘like a missile’ from the sky at speeds that may have been as much as 32,000 feet per second.
In the aftermath, distressing audio between the air traffic control staff and the increasingly frantic pilot of the plane has also emerged, and one particular question has people perplexed.
At one stage the person on the ground side of things - which is to say, the one not hurtling towards the ground in an out of control aircraft - asked: “What do you need?”
It sounds like a simple question, but it really isn’t.
Why that specific question was asked - and why it annoyed some
The question is an open one, a vague one, and seems to offer a lot of opportunity to be interpreted in a lot of ways.
As one person put it: "Someone please explain to me what the guy in the tower would’ve done for them in that situation.
"My blood began boiling when I heard him say what do you need from me right after she just explained the very dire situation they were in almost twice.”
The truth of the matter is quite simple - that question is not just a throwaway, it’s a necessity.
The FAA rules actually state that once an emergency is established - i.e. one of the distress words such as ‘Mayday’ is heard - they need to throw open the doors and ask what the plane needs.
That could be anything - runways clearing, flightpath approval, whatever is necessary to prevent a catastrophic incident.
As one comment responding read: "He's not in a tower, he's in a dark radar room in Miami watching a blip drop with zero idea what broke in that cockpit.
"'What do you need' means the whole sky is yours, name it and it's done.”
Keywords that trigger the emergency protocol
As an article on AVweb states, the first thing that happens is a keyword is spoken from the flight deck.
Usually it’s something like ‘Mayday’, ‘Emergency’, ‘Declare’ or ‘Pan-Pan’.
That triggers the ATC to ask questions about the need - assessing that need is what happened here.
The concept of ’meeting the needs of the emergency’ means doing whatever is necessary and possible to get the plane down safely or out of the emergency.
As the article itself states: “The immediate response almost always is, 'What do you need?’
"Tower controllers could need a runway; radar controllers might need a transition or to block departures momentarily; center controllers might need airspace below theirs if an airplane is in an emergency descent.
"We ask and we get it.”
It’s not just good practise, either.
It’s enshrined in law.
What the FAA says on the subject
In the ‘Emergencies’ chapter of the Federal Aviation Administration’s rulebook, there’s a sub-category called ‘obtaining information’.
It states: "Obtain enough information to handle the emergency intelligently.
"Base your decision as to what type of assistance is needed on information and requests received from the pilot because he/she is authorized by 14 CFR Part 91 to determine a course of action.”
So, it might seem like a fairly open-ended and throwaway question to those not involved in aviation, but to those in the know, it is well known and recognized for the question that it actually is.
Whatever you need, we’ll move heaven and earth to make it happen.
Sadly, on this occasion, it wasn’t possible - but the intent was the same as in any aviation emergency.