"Morgans" wrote in message
...

"Jim Macklin" wrote

How many "outraged" posters have ever flown into DFW as a
pilot? For ATC to turn the airport around takes about half
an hour, even if all they do is tell all the other airplanes
to go away. ATC did fit the "emergency" into the traffic,
which seems to be the better solution.

It would not have a been a "better solution" if he had run out of fuel
while maneuvering, and killed a few hundred people.

Deciding that an emergency is not all that urgent is not the controller's
right. He should have given the clearance requested, then later the
situation should be toughly investigated and the pilot reamed, if it was
not a true emergency, or if it was, then perhaps a different kind of
reaming.

"Might I suggest a closer airport?" seems to sum it up.

If it were strictly a fuel emergency, diverting to take on fuel would solve
the problem completely without upsetting the whole sector. The real issue
was one pilot willing to maintain his route and schedule at the expense of
everyone else in the air, including those onboard his own plane. If there's
justice in this world, bury him in paperwork for the duration of his
administrative leave. After a humbly apologetic ASRS, write 100,000,000
times longhand "I will place the safety of others above my own convenience."
We learn and grow from our mistakes. His was such that he should reach 8 ft.
tall by summer.

Frankly, I'm dismayed and more than a little frightened by the shrill tone
that has become common on news broadcasts in the past few years, and the
unthinking echo emanating from the skulls they seem to penetrate so easily.