[REAL ATC] United B787 DECLARES FUEL EMERGENCY at Sydney!

[@VASAviation]

*Thanks to everyone who reported this incident via email and Twitter.* Be advised a second video will be published in a few hours covering the entire emergency including all the communications with other airplanes so that we can see how awesome that Approach controller worked delay-vectoring inbounds to accomodate the emergency aircraft. Glad it all worked out great!

[@andyrichardsvideovlogs8835]

It made the press in the UK, but only online and print media where it was described as a Delta flight.

[@lockergr]

I don't see an answer in the comments section so I thought I would ask why they ended up low on fuel to begin with. Thank you!

[@VASAviation]

Trust VASAviation. Media sucks.

[@VASAviation]

I replied another guy about this. May be a leak, a miscalculation or just an unexpected headwind enroute.

[@drmayeda1930]

@@VASAviation Low fuel so he was already below minimum required or an empty tank(s)?

[@joshwilliams8863]

As an Australian it's hilarious to hear the Australian tower and ground accents compared to the American pilots... the pilots just seem so tight and professional, and the tower (and especially ground) controllers are just like "Yeah mate".

[@afh7689]

For those that don't know, Sydney Airport is closed overnight (except emergencies) and opens at 6AM, so there are a lot of international arrivals shortly after opening. Nearly all flights to the west coast of the US depart in late evening (10PM-midnight) and arrive around 6-7AM right after the airport opens. They then depart a few hours later so they can arrive back to their origin (LAX, SFO, Vancouver) in the morning in time for connecting flights (it is about 5 hours to the east coast plus a three hour time change). I don't have time to look up, but I think Hawaiian offers a later flight from/to Honolulu, but otherwise all flights to the US west coast from Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane follow that schedule. Edit: Both Hawaiian and Qantas flights to Honolulu depart Sydney late in the day and arrive mid-day in Honolulu.

[@VASAviation]

Thanks for that info. I personally didn't know YSSY closed during night time.

[@ondrejfenclcom]

I arrived recently on a first flight after 5am. So I believe it is closed until 5am.

[@victortjoeng4717]

Nah, it's open at 6am and closes about at 11pm AEST. I know because i live under the flight path lol. Airlines get heavy fines for coming in when it's closed.

[@aussiebloke609]

6am is my experience also - I remember flying from LA to Sydney and arriving about 5am - and having to wait until the curfew was lifted at 6 before we could land. On the other hand, first on the ground means first through baggage, first through customs...we were out of the airport in about 20 mins. And since I'd slept the flight over, no jet lag in spite of the time zone difference. :-D

[@overnightpartsfromjapan01]

Correct, there is a concession for a small number of flights to arrive after 5am during standard (non-DST) time, I think QF2 and BA15 are two such flights.

[@SuperRjBrown]

The amount of traffic this caused to the roads in the surrounding area was terrible. Glad to hear UAL839 made it safely

[@PrograError]

air routes?

[@menuly]

@@PrograError They closed the roads ahead of the runway in case the plane ran out if fuel and didn't make it to the runway.

[@lollycopter]

Oh yeah the newspapers did mention that too. I wonder when avherald will be ready to publish something?

[@francescadarimini6476]

Thank you for all your work, VASAviation! - ATC in Sidney is very polite and courteous. Great!

[@PhilipVels]

Francesca DaRimini Sydney *

[@francescadarimini6476]

@@PhilipVels Apologies.

[@lollycopter]

If you tune in to any of the major Australian airports even when things get stormy or busy, it still makes for pretty relaxing listening (unlike KSFO, heh).

[@likewow3804]

Somebody needs to use this to train the New York ATCs.

[@gomphrena-beautifulflower-8043]

This happened today! And so wonderful and detailed; another super work done by VASAv! Fantastic!

[@VASAviation]

Always working hard to bring the best content as soon as possible! Thanks for your support! :)

[@kd5you1]

Actually it was yesterday. :p I saw this story on the news 24 hrs ago. :)

[@VASAviation]

I published the video about 15 hours after the incident.

[@kd5you1]

VASAviation I meant to reference gomphrena's post. :) She mentioned that it happened "today" meaning Thursday but it happened Wednesday. :) Thanks for posting the videos.

[@Gribbo9999]

I flew out of Sydney at 10:00 on 4th Oct. This explains the fire engines still running up and down the road outside the airport when I came to Arrivals just before 07:00.

[@pjm4634]

If you look at flight aware you see that AAL73 (KLAX-YSSY) diverted to PHNL that same day. They went about 1/2 way and turned. Perhaps stronger than forecast headwinds?

[@ReseYT]

Wonderful job by everyone involved again! Can't wait for the video regarding the controller who lost his life getting a plane off the ground recently.

[@denbastadilfred688]

DC-8 Tailpost There was a controller who died in the earthquake in indonesia as he did not evacuate the tower to make sure some planes could leave safely

[@ReseYT]

That one.

[@gomphrena-beautifulflower-8043]

DenBastaDilfred • Oh! I’ve just heard of this today. He died a hero! (Just doing his job, he might have said, had he lived.) Made me immediately think of a few years ago, that brave young Japanese woman who kept broadcasting the tsunami emergency until the waters silenced her voice forever.

[@drmayeda1930]

@@gomphrena-beautifulflower-8043 I think he tried to jump out of the tower but died after.

[@DarkPriestess1]

Thanks for uploading this! Looks like everyone did a great job.

[@dfonseka2120]

2 UALs landing back to back.. wonder what the UAL pilots behind them were thinking about the situation of their colleagues

[@stephenj9563]

Great visuals, best I have seen. I live right under the flight path for 16R so this was very interesting for me.

[@sylviaelse5086]

There are aspects to this that have yet to come to light. This incident is one that has to be reported to the Australian Transport Safety Board, so with luck there will eventually be a report that clarifies things. The course the aircraft takes is such that if fuel is running low because of unexpectedly high consumption, the aircraft can easily divert to Brisbane. It could even divert to Newcastle given that it would be at low weight by then. The fact that it continued to Sydney implies that the crew considered that they had enough fuel, at least until after a diversion to Brisbane ceased to be useful, which is only about 350 miles out. Unless it started leaking fuel, or fuel became unavailable for technical reasons, it's difficult to see how this situation came about.

[@skidude02]

LAX to Sidney is one of the much longer flights in the world. However that aircraft certainly has the fuel capacity to handle that fight with a lot to spare. I suspect they'll find the fuel was only filled to the bare minimum allowed for a flight of that length and they had a lot stronger headwinds than expected (and/or some major turbulence that ate a lot of fuel along the way). The flight I had many years ago on Quantus from Sidney to LAX had a similar low fuel issue and had declare a fuel emergency and get a priory landing. However that was because the ATC at LAX made the plane circle in a holding pattern over LA at least 4 times (over an hour) due to air traffic congestion at LAX. The plane landed with less than 20 mins of fuel left. That was the quickest taxing to a gate upon touchdown I've ever had on a flight.

[@sylviaelse5086]

Sydney to LAX is more problematical. Unlike the reverse direction, there is nowhere the aircraft can go that will shorten the journey near the end. Once the aircraft's passes the point where it can divert to Honolulu, about 1400 miles out, it's committed to getting into LAX

[@Dave-cz4wu]

@@skidude02 during the flight, did they mention the nature of the emergency to the passengers?

[@skidude02]

That flight was pre- 9/11 when they used to put the the plane's air traffic control audio on one of the channels for the in seat audio entertainment-- I heard the pilot tell ATC "...we only have 20 mins of fuel left... we need to land now." (I think they wanted him to circle in a holding pattern around LA one more time. -- I kid you not that we had circled LA back out over the ocean at least 4 times at that point.) The captain did tell to rest of the passengers on the intercom once they landed on the runway to stay the seated with seat belts fastened because we were low on fuel and would be taxiing quickly to the gate. They had a "follow me" vehicle lead him non-stop to the gate.

[@Jasonzw952]

great job by the air traffic controllers in my city glad to know ill be in safe hands when i go travelling

[@user-ko7ol5qg4g]

I live in Sydney and this was on the news... damnn

[@fbugatti9464]

Great job both of u! 👍👍

[@michaeldunne4770]

Im glad The plane landed safely well done to air Traffic Control.

[@sabertig3489]

I love happy endings.

[@aerodaan]

Your subtitles are hilarious [edit] if you don't know that you have left the "caption"-function on 😂

[@mikefuquay9903]

This is why Math class is important, kids.

[@WyvernApalis]

Mike Fuquay well they had a leak so it’s not exactly the fault of the fueler But yeah maths is still important

[@PhilipVels]

But it was a leak. Also other things could happen like a much stronger headwind than calculated for

[@Gaby5011wastaken]

Air Canada 143

[@infiltr80r]

Why do you need it when you can become an Instagram star overnight?

[@Steve211Ucdhihifvshi]

its almost like its been sped up. dificulty increasing ... adding more planesss

[@RasheedKhan-he6xx]

Do you have fuel to taxi to the gate seemed a bit sarcastic? I mean just imagine how close a call if you land and your engines sputter out while you're still on the runway! Was he suggesting he didn't believe there was an emergency and that in his view UAL just wanted to jump the queue?

[@Jasonzw952]

yay australia my home town

[@JKB-]

Le Cran Australia is my city

[@Josh-xz4ec]

nice....

[@BaconAndPotatoCorp]

@Le Cran /r/Woosh

[@aussiebloke609]

My hometown also. I remember when they were building the 3rd runway - I was working security (night shift) for the construction area. :-)

[@whophlungdung482]

That’s nice but I assume you mean that Sydney is your home town???

[@GetOutsideYourself]

Australian TV news reported they were turning the plane around for an afternoon flight back to LAX, which if true suggests it wasn't a mechanical issue. Checking flight history for tail number N26952, looks like after the Sydney leg they're flying it back to LAX empty to make a flight to Tokyo the following day. www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/n26952

[@VASAviation]

The subject aircraft is N27958 and it made its way back to SFO hours later.

[@Trek001]

This would be but a middling incident to Captain Maggie

[@bazzie85]

Except that captain Maggie is not qualified to fly a commercial jetliner.

[@gomphrena-beautifulflower-8043]

Basel Kader • Oh I’ll bet someday she will be, and I hope she is thinking of a career path along those lines. Why, she might become a CFI too and tell her students how she cut her teeth on problematic landing gear 😉

[@Trek001]

Precisely

[@jayzenitram9621]

Dude, just roll with the joke.

[@pesto12601]

ugh... another captain Maggie joke.. folks - enough already... it wasn't that big of a deal!

[@colby5348]

I flew on that flight at the start of August

[@scotthoward8223]

Unfortunately this misses the actual mayday declaration which occurred over half an hour earlier.

[@gomphrena-beautifulflower-8043]

Scott Howard • I thought I had just missed it, but thought the pilot had declared and said “emergency” and not the actual word “Mayday,” which most Americans don’t say. That said, I’m glad you said that. 🙃

[@scotthoward8223]

He declared the mayday on a different frequency much earlier. I wasn't able to find a recording that captured the pilots side of the conversation, but the ATC responds with "United 839, Roger Mayday" and then asks the standard people on board/fuel endurance/dangerous cargo questions. Mayday is the correct term to use for most of the world.

[@gomphrena-beautifulflower-8043]

Scott Howard • I was just pointing out that the word “emergency” is more a USA thing, whereas “Mayday” is used in most other countries, as you pointed out.

[@stivi739]

I thought the low fuel warning on 787 send out an auto mayday call

[@lollycopter]

YBBN-Center2-Oct-03-2018-1930Z.mp3 (liveatc) at 2m24s has most of the start of this discussion - I think we can only hear the ATC side due to liveatc receiver range issues, but basically ATC tells them that they have to declare an emergency if they're low on fuel and want priority handling.

[@lizthomas1539]

Little GAM Shrikes heading off from Bankstown in the background 😍 #GAMforlife

[@muskylemon2310]

Is there audio of the Mayday as it was called in, what situation they reported being in? I read that they closed major roads just in case, so they must've thought they'd be down to the wire..

[@w2ttsy670]

Nick Scott the M1 passes under 16R and Qantas drive is north of 16R so coming in short could have caused a devastating accident with traffic as collateral damage. Reminds me of BA 38 that only just managed to get over the fence at LHR before landing short due to sudden fuel starvation. Had they not made the perimeter line, they would have ended up crashing on the A30.

[@lastannahme]

What does it mean when he sais: "...we've got uniform"? Thankfull for an explanation...

[@Kaiser6]

He's confirming to the controller that he is in receipt of ATIS (Automatic Terminal Information Service) Information Uniform.

[@lastannahme]

Ahh...okay. Thank you.

[@ChiarettaCroce]

... maybe it refers to ICAO code/alphabet ... U for Uniform ...

[@rjhornsby]

The ATIS is an automated broadcast that has routine, but dynamic, information like weather, airport information like a runway is closed, etc. When air traffic control updates the ATIS, the letter (phonetic alphabet - alpha, bravo, charlie etc) changes so when a pilot calls ATC and says “we have uniform” it means they listened to the ATIS. If the ATIS changed, the controller would say something like “information victor is current”. ATIS reduces routine radio chatter, and the letter lets pilot and ATC know they have the up to date airport info.

[@SuperHongming]

It means he’s got his captain shirt on him!

[@Izmael1310]

I bet they had fuel for another 20 minutes of "FLYING" when they arrived at their gate. So "Fuel emergency" yeah. Runway inspection after they declaered "low fuel" is weird. From this video I have not heard anything about fuel leak.

[@lollycopter]

News reports suggested 30 minutes, which would have been awkward had there been fog or storms at YSSY.

[@hs7921]

Bit strange. When did the crew decide there was a problem? If fuel burn is monitored throughout the flight, they would have had an idea that they were maybe a bit short a long time before they got near Sydney. When do they have to decide on an alternate if there is even a hint of a problem? And what if they had got to Sydney to find a problem there? What would they have done then? I hope this incident gets thoroughly investigated.

[@bryanpearce08]

The ATSB is currently reviewing the incident. The Mayday was triggered automatically as soon as the flight got into it's fuel reserves.

[@ollietoots50]

They’re constantly calculating their reserves. 15% variable reserve is fairly standard but I’m not sure if that is standard for airlines? However, if you work out 15% reserve for the full flight, that’s a lot of fuel, 15% of a 12-14 hour flight is over 2 hours fuel. As they get closer to the destination, it’s recalculated. They would’ve found once they were closer that they would have to burn into their reserves, which would’ve been around 15% of maybe 6 hours. Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s my understanding.

[@bryanpearce08]

I hope Victor doesn't mind me mentioning another KZbinr here. Captain Joe is a First Officer based in Europe and has his own KZbin Channel. He use to work for airberlin, but is now working for a cargo airline. He has done a video explaining the basics of fuel requirements. There is trip fuel which is the fuel needed to get from Point A to Point B. Then there's Contingency fuel which regulations state must be 5% of trip fuel or a minimum 5 extra minutes. Then there's Alternate fuel which is enough to get the aircraft to the alternate airport the crew chose during their briefing. The Alternate fuel includes enough for a missed approach at the airport where landing is actually scheduled. Then there is Final Reserve which is legally required to be a minimum 30 minutes flying at 1500 feet flying over the airport at holding speed. Pilots also have the option to load extra fuel at their discretion. Then there is taxi fuel to get the plane to gate and includes fuel to run the APU. He did he would need to do other vids to go into it more, however, he has only done one on fuel tankering as of yet. That's the extent of knowledge, but am happy to be corrected.

[@ollietoots50]

Thanks for clearing that up :)

[@alexkoch8716]

YSSY not in the news that offtern

[@tazzer9]

Usually the only time i hear Sydney Airport in the news now is them trying to make another attempt to stop badgerys creek airport (sydneys second, no curfew airport) from being built.

[@jamesmcilvenny2294]

Alex Koch no news is generally good news

[@alexkoch8716]

James McIlvenny true

[@5Andysalive]

@@jamesmcilvenny2294 Depends on wether it's cancer or your first child....

[@jamiecoyne1494]

I think there were a few US aircrafts in a space of a few months with the same thing.

[@stanktail]

Too many fat passengers

[@SimisioLP]

what is minimum fuel to call mayday on such a long flight? It is surely more than 30 minutes right?

[@donaldm3067]

RIP jetstar 989

[@BradleySpahn]

Anyone care to speculate on why they wouldn't have diverted earlier to Nadi or Auckland?

[@imranatwork4056]

can u upload us bangla Bangladesh nose landing in Chittagong..

[@elshpen]

From another interested bystander - why is a fuel emergency considered a mayday, rather than a pan pan?

[@TheMonteGrey]

Beacuse it is an emergency. If you have only 30 mins left of fuel you are freaking close to drop of the sky if something goes wrong. For example a go around or some minor delay that might happen. If a pilot thinks that she/he will land with less than 30 minutes of fuel they are required, by law, to deckare fuel emergency and get full priority to land. Beacuse if small things go wrong you will literally become a glider.

[@BrentLobegeier]

Pan=hey pay attention to me because I have something going on but I'm ok. Mayday= Get. Me. On. The. Ground.

[@thomash7247]

good job

[@Boodieman72]

What is the Director the equivalent to in the US?

[@N1120A]

Final Approach

[@MichaelCarrPilot]

Is the director the equivalent to the tower at a controlled field in the USA?

[@VASAviation]

Negative. It's like a Final Approach.

[@MichaelCarrPilot]

Aaah. Like most class B airports have. Thanks!

[@paulazemeckis3601]

wow, busy!

[@uy_spotter]

The question now is how do they got low on fuel. Maybe some unexpected headwind?

[@VASAviation]

I believe so.

[@timothysmith5453]

I was wondering if it’s possible and credible for some to set it up this way to simply get to land quicker. Probably not though as surely there are ramifications when declaring an emergency.

[@BaconAndPotatoCorp]

@@timothysmith5453 Um yes. Declaring an emergency for shits and giggles is definitely going to result in a loss of employment and license.

[@hazard6812]

i think what timothy means is; can you sabotage your flight in a way that you have JUST enough fuel to make it to your destination, but will need priority landing due to a fuel emergency

[@harryjeffs2933]

Nope because FAA and CASA laws permit reserves for this very reason. You always have to have extra fuel on board to allow for holding, go-arounds or whatever. If it were a tiger air flight than maybe but for international translatic flights they won't risk putting just enough fuel because what if they have to divert to melbourne for example for weather; no fuel.

[@OptimusSubPr1me]

Is "Director" the same as Tower?

[@VASAviation]

Negative. Director is like a Final Approach. Director would work the final sequence for the localizer and then transfer the traffics to Tower when established.

[@fascinatingtome]

There are some good videos (with radar) of Heathrow Director ATC, showing how they direct aircraft coming out of the arrival stacks then hand them on to the Tower.

[@georgebarc]

What's a Director when they say contact director on xxx.xx

[@VASAviation]

Read comments below.

[@AMStationEngineer]

+VASAviation, friends, who contact me, for clarification of/inquiring about aviation news stories, most always are directed here, because your videos are well-presented, and questions answered by your viewers are answered with courtesy. Thanks for all of your efforts.

[@stanktail]

Do you have enough fuel to taxi? Negative we will call UBER

[@PInk77W1]

Do they close the Hwys in Sydney at 11pm too ?

[@davidhandyman7571]

No, just the airport so the darlings in the flight path can get a good sleep. The flight path is over some snobby suburbs where powerful people live. It is all about politics.

[@edm9527]

He landed with 40 mins fuel. Surely it should have been a PAN PAN call with 40 mins fuel and then a MAYDAY when very low on fuel.

[@VASAviation]

40 minutes fuel is definitely a MAYDAY.

[@lollycopter]

2'23" and 3'07" at YBBN-Center2-Oct-03-2018-1930Z mentions needing to declare an emergency for priority landing, but then at 5'45" YBBN Center mentions both emergency and pan pan in the same breath (if a 6 minute delay was unacceptable). It sound like some other emergencies allow more time to fly! Other indexes featuring comms towards United 839 in the 2018-10-03T19:30Z audio (if anyone wonders, I guess we can't hear them due to range): 13'00" - Procedure needs to be mayday. 13'57" - "United 839 did you copy that?" 17'00" 17'30" - "United 839 roger mayday" 19'52" - Questions for United 839: Persons on board, fuel endurance, any dangerous cargo? 21'38" - confirm

[@TimetoWatch247]

Contact the director? Does that mean contact Sydney Tower?

[@VASAviation]

No, Director is like a Final Approach. Director would work the final sequence for the localizer and then transfer the traffics to Tower when established.

[@PrograError]

sequence for some busy international airports Approach > Director > Tower > Ground

[@TheJetJock]

Pommie ATC on Sydney Approach?

[@markpitkin6818]

Correct!👍🏼

[@PVflying]

Lots of mistakes in the captions. Maybe the accents were hard for you to make out?

[@emilyc8958]

MrCurry fortunately none of the errors changed/lost any of the meaning

[@VASAviation]

Absolutely.

[@PVflying]

Emily C yes, sorry if it sounded like I was complaining. Yes the meaning was still clear and thanks for Vasa for his great videos!

[@lollycopter]

I know how to transcribe audio accurately (it's a PITA), but I don't know how to so quickly put it all together for KZbin with graphics and everything. Thank you for all your effort/uploads VASAviation!

[@ThomasIF]

Hey VAS

[@Jay-hr3rh]

Somebody has some explaining to do.

[@lollycopter]

Too many heavy guitar cases in the cargo hold. Burned up too much fuel.

[@danielramsey1959]

What i noticed when i flew in Oz was the airlines are very fuel stingy, they penalize you if any of your luggage is overweight by the smallest amount, actually the whole country is fuel starved.

[@ckangas]

We're so fuel starved that on domestic flights we make the sepos sit on the wings to make the plane lighter

[@Falkano]

ckangas but wouldnt that induce drag and therefore increase fuel consumption 🤔

[@drmayeda1930]

@@Falkano That joke is so old it has a two meter long beard. I only get maybe 10% of the jokes put in comments.

[@tazzer9]

only jetstar and tigerair do that, but in comparison to low cost carriers of the USA and europe, they are luxurious. At least they allow a free 7kg of carry on. Unless your luggage looked really out of whack then qantas or virgin wouldn't dare try and check luggage weight.

[@emilyc8958]

It's Aus, never Oz unless you're talking about some girl with magic shoes searching for a wizard with a scarecrow and a tin man

[@mjnathan3730]

Are 787's not Heavy?

[@VASAviation]

They are but that's not standard phraseo in Australia.

[@mjnathan3730]

@@VASAviation Thank you. You are doing a great job bringing this to us

[@aMegaMaxProductions]

Should not have been a mayday but a Pan

[@TheMonteGrey]

No first minimum fuel and then fuel emergency. At that point they need to, by law, declare a fuel emergency. Dropping out of the sky in 30 min is more than a panpan?

[@Nicolas_Rangel]

How somebody can fly across the Passific Ocean with a non-sufficient amount of fuel? Strange.

[@VASAviation]

Could be a leak, a miscalculation or unexpected headwind enroute.

[@tnexus13]

Without a confirmed cause, it could even be just after priority treatment in busy airspace to avoid delays. As long as the crew can justify it (oh we were below an hour left, not enough to make alternate) they'll get away with it.

[@aivansama6265]

All you need is stronger than forecasted headwind. It's not like they had "low fuel" light blinking when they departed.

[@lawrencehaguewood5857]

tnexus13 a ‘fuel mayday’ is REQUIRED’ by regulation if the calculated/estimated fuel on board will be 30min or less at expected landing time. Higher headwinds enroute and longer than expected hold time can put an aircraft in this situation.

[@tnexus13]

That's when it's required, yes. I've heard a few examples of it being arguably misused on channels like this however.

[@joebaxter6895]

That controller does not appear to be Australian

[@bazzie85]

He is most definitely australian with an accent like that. Not all Aussies have a thick country folk accent.

[@DarkPriestess1]

He's definitely an australian!

[@andyrichardsvideovlogs8835]

@@mudchair16 No. That is Australian. No British in that accent.

[@nicoladavies3391]

As a Brit I would say he is probably originally from here with some acquired Aussie intonation.

[@danielsullivan87]

As an Australian who had a grandmother with a very strong RP accent, it definitely carries down the line to the point where I get asked how much time I've spent over there - unfortunately none :(

[@mattaviation7472]

How much fuel was actually left after landing ?

[@VASAviation]

According to reports, approximate 30 minutes remaining at the time of landing.

[@AaronShenghao]

So maybe a go around and he will have good chance run out of fuel when taxing.

[@Nighthawke70]

@@VASAviation 15 minutes runtime, 15 minutes reserve. Ok, I'm glad someone dipsticked their tanks. Lots of idiot pilots using low fuel calls to jump in line.

[@VeniVidiAjax]

RyanAir *cough*

[@RasheedKhan-he6xx]

Do you have fuel to taxi to the gate seemed a bit sarcastic? I mean just imagine how close a call if you land and your engines sputter out while you're still on the runway! Was he suggesting he didn't believe there was an emergency and that in his view UAL just wanted to jump the queue?

[@SVSky]

Long flight it can happen. I think the flight is like 15 hours.

[@RasheedKhan-he6xx]

@@SVSky No it really can't. They are required to have quite a lot of reserve in case of weather, diversions, holding patterns and so forth. So if a pilot declares a fuel emergency, believe him/her!