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Several controllers and an ATC supervisor observed another controller unnecessarily delay an aircraft with a medical emergency that requested to divert to the nearest airport.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1413262 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201701 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1801-2400 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZTL.ARTCC |
| State Reference | GA |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Large Transport |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Cruise |
| Route In Use | Vectors STAR CHOPI1 |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Enroute |
| Qualification | Air Traffic Control Fully Certified |
| Experience | Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 28.0 |
| Person 2 | |
| Function | Enroute |
| Qualification | Air Traffic Control Fully Certified |
| Experience | Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 3.0 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Other / Unknown Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Illness |
Narrative:
Aircraft X northeast bound descending to 35;000 feet when the pilot advised of a medical [situation] due to an unresponsive passenger and asked to divert to atl. I was called to work the affected sector's radar assist position. The radar controller immediately descended the aircraft to 35;000 feet and handed it off to the macon hi sector. I walked down to the macon hi sector and verbally coordinated the situation and the pilot's request to divert to atl. The aircraft was then switched to the macon hi frequency and continued to fly northeast bound.when the aircraft was due south of atl it requested a right turn for a right base to one of the easterly runways at atl. The aircraft was turned to a 090 heading at some point. It was now past the airport and continuing to fly further away from the airport. I walked down to macon hi sector and noticed the aircraft was leveling at 24;000 feet about 20 southeast of the airport and still heading away from the airport. The aircraft had a medical [situation] and the controller was determined to put them on some type of STAR! I urgently told the controller to turn the aircraft on a downwind and descend them. All to no avail. The aircraft continued eastbound and flew 40-45 miles east of the airport before it was finally headed in the right direction which was due westbound. Atl was on an east operation so the aircraft had to fly all the way back past the airport on a downwind before it could be turned in to land. The aircraft was made to fly approximately 80-100 miles more than it needed to in this situation. It could have been the difference between someone's life and their death.don't partially certify incompetent controllers and let them hang around and train for 6 plus years. That's my recommendation. This partially certified controller was working a sector they were certified on and still had no idea how to handle an emergency aircraft.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Several controllers and an ATC Supervisor observed another controller unnecessarily delay an aircraft with a medical emergency that requested to divert to the nearest airport.
Narrative: Aircraft X northeast bound descending to 35;000 feet when the pilot advised of a medical [situation] due to an unresponsive passenger and asked to divert to ATL. I was called to work the affected sector's Radar Assist position. The Radar Controller immediately descended the aircraft to 35;000 feet and handed it off to the Macon Hi sector. I walked down to the Macon Hi Sector and verbally coordinated the situation and the pilot's request to divert to ATL. The aircraft was then switched to the Macon Hi frequency and continued to fly northeast bound.When the aircraft was due south of ATL it requested a right turn for a right base to one of the easterly runways at ATL. The aircraft was turned to a 090 heading at some point. It was now past the airport and continuing to fly further away from the airport. I walked down to Macon Hi sector and noticed the aircraft was leveling at 24;000 feet about 20 southeast of the airport and still heading away from the airport. The aircraft had a medical [situation] and the controller was determined to put them on some type of STAR! I urgently told the controller to turn the aircraft on a downwind and descend them. All to no avail. The aircraft continued eastbound and flew 40-45 miles east of the airport before it was finally headed in the right direction which was due westbound. ATL was on an east operation so the aircraft had to fly all the way back past the airport on a downwind before it could be turned in to land. The aircraft was made to fly approximately 80-100 miles more than it needed to in this situation. It could have been the difference between someone's life and their death.Don't partially certify incompetent controllers and let them hang around and train for 6 plus years. That's my recommendation. This partially certified controller was working a sector they were certified on and still had no idea how to handle an emergency aircraft.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.