What REALLY Happens During an Emergency on a Plane, From What the Pilot is Doing to How to Increase Your Chances of Survival

This week, a Mahan Air Boeing 747 travelling to Bandar Abbas in Iran from Tehran’s Mehrabad airport was forced to make an emergency landing after one of its engines fell off two-minutes into the flight.

It is one of a series of high-profile emergency landings and crashes to have featured in the media recently, raising concerns among regular travellers about flight safety.

So what really happens during an emergency on a plane? If a passenger was on that flight, what would the pilots and cabin crew be doing behind the scenes, what would the passengers be asked to do and what survival tips are there in the event of a crash? Cockpit Confidential: ... Smith, Patrick Best Price: $1.25 Buy New $14.71 (as of 03:05 UTC - Details)

First of all, passengers should feel confident that they are in the safest of hands when it comes to crew and emergencies – staff go through incredibly rigorous training schedules that last for days to prepare for any type of disaster.

Pilots are the first to react when it comes to an emergency and how they behave is governed by the type of situation.

For instance, according to the Captain Ken Hoke, who is a Boeing 757/767 captain, if an engine failed immediately after take-off, the pilot would announce an emergency over the microphone to cabin crew and Air Traffic Control.

He told website flightradar24.com: ‘In this situation, the crew knows they have a serious problem and will need the immediate assistance and cooperation of Air Traffic Control to assure a successful outcome.’

He continued: ‘[But] in most “emergencies,” we aren’t in a big hurry. Unless it’s smoke, fire, or low on fuel, we can usually take our time to evaluate the problem.’

The type of language used by the pilot helps the cabin crew to decipher how extreme the emergency is very easily.

For example, on American flights, a crew will determine how important and emergency is depending on whether it is ‘urgent’ or ‘distressed.’

An urgent situation is a problem that needs assistance but not necessarily immediately, whereas a ‘distressed’ situation means the flight is in immediate or imminent danger and the situation needs to be addressed straight away.

On flights outside of the US, the phrase ‘Pan-Pan’ is used to describe an urgent situation, while ‘Mayday’ is used to describe a distressed one.

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