Declare an Emergency early and often!

OK just kidding. I finished reading the great post about a failed vaccum in
IMC and the happy outcome. I wanted to post this message to share something
I learned some time ago when I participated in a university research
program.

The researcher was investigating pilot's decision to declare emergencies.
It's a widely held view that declaring an emergency when confronted with a
difficult in-flight situation is something that one must carefully consider.
There seems to be worry that one will face a paperwork hassle, a grilling by
a friendly FAA rep., endless second-guessing, or being reported for further
enforcement action. It's not true. In nearly all cases all that happens
when declaring an emergency is you get all the help there is to be offered
and priority handling by ATC. In fact, there's a lot less chance you will
be hassled by anyone for some minor technical FAR violation if you have
declared the emergency.

Many pilots seem to follow the same Hollywood script and try to edge up nice
and close to declaring an emergency without doing so formally. There's no
need for this. If you're in doubt about whether your situation is an
emergency, delcare it. It doesn't make your condition worse, the
professionals on the other end of the radio won't have to give you emergency
service and pretend you haven't declared. Just say it! Your name and
N-Number aren't going to be forwarded to D.C. for a C.S.I. type forensic
investigation looking for an excuse to pull your ticket. The most likely
outcome of declaring the emergency is you'll be asked to call ATC so the
people that worked the situation will know you are OK.

I'd be interested to read if others have some other reason for not declaring
an emergency if they have a problem in the airplane. I think it would be
helpful if whatever reasons any of us may have for not making the
declaration could be discussed. It may be there is not one single reason to
avoid doing so but I'm pretty sure some of us other lower-time pilots have
unexpresed reasons we assume we shouldn't declare. Maybe some of the
professional pilots have company-specific reasons that would shed light on
the matter.

I remember the study researcher and I joking that what I learned from his
program was that dropping my pen on the cockpit floor during IMC might be my
new threshold of an emergency, not the previous "fire is melting the spar
and we're breaking up."

--
Scott

I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.
Winston Churchill