[SystemSafety] Chicago controller halts Delta jet's near-miss....

Mon Jun 29 07:10:08 CEST 2015

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On 2015-06-29 01:28 , Les Chambers wrote:
> Peter Can I clarify your assertion? (This is a message [3] style communication) Do your words 
> below assert that a pilot (as "enshrined in most countries' law ") is empowered to take off 
> without clearance from ATC?

What do you mean by "empowered"? It is not a term I recognise from aviation procedures.

Pilots take off without ATC clearance all the time. I'm sure half the takeoffs I have done were
without clearance. All the flights I have been on in Germany except one were without takeoff
clearance. An ATC clearance for takeoff is not necessarily part of operating procedures.

The pilot in US, UK and German law (and probably Australian although I haven't checked) is able to
undertake any action necessary to ensure the safety of the flight. A pilot who takes off without a
clearance where a clearance is part of the procedures under which heshe is operating will usually be
asked to talk to the regulator in the US, UK and Germany. If the regulator is not convinced that
it was necessary to ensure the safety of the flight, sanctions may ensue, up to loss of license.

It is not unknown, although rare, for pilots doing odd things in the US to be prosecuted by law
enforcement personnel. "Reckless endangerment" or something similar is often charged in such cases.

I am not sure how enlightening it would be to discuss basic aviation law at this level. This is
basic "intro to flight" material such as prospective pilots have to understand at their local
flying club during ab initio flight training. In the US, prospective pilots have to read and
understand FAR Part 91 (14 CFR 91), available from
https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/faa_regulations/ . In the UK, it's CAP 393, available
from
http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?catid=1&pagetype=65&appid=11&mode=detail&id=226&filter=2
Both of these publications concern the rights and responsibilities of pilots. The responsibilities
of ATC are not included in these publications. Here is the document which I believe describes ATC
phraseology and procedures in the US https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Order/ATC.pdf  The
general responsibility of ATC is to ensure separation between participating aircraft, and to
effect separation as far as practicable between participating aircraft and others. "Participating"
means aircraft under instrument flight rules. "Non-participating" aircraft will be flying under
visual flight rules, and such aircraft may or may not be talking to ATC. Those that are are said
in the US to be engaged in "flight following". Some of those that are not may have no radio.

PBL

Prof. Peter Bernard Ladkin, Faculty of Technology, University of Bielefeld, 33594 Bielefeld, Germany
Je suis Charlie
Tel+msg +49 (0)521 880 7319  www.rvs.uni-bielefeld.de