Originally Posted by
nyc6035
Looking over the radar I have more serious questions. If this was in fact a level 2 emergency" (whatever that means), why didn't JFK clear traffic immediately as the craft was clearly vectored out of LGA for the north/south 22l/r arrival runway at JFK? Looking over the tape (
http://www4.passur.com/lga.html) he was at 1100 ft. and pointed straight at 22. Why did they vector him right spinning him out to go toward brooklyn for a 31l/r approach? If this was an emergency where they thought he might not make it, why not keep him on the southern flight path out to Jamaica Bay? Or better yet why not waive off the other traffic on final from 13r and let him put down directly on 22? Why put him over the populated land areas of Queens and Brooklyn? Also, why did they have him lined up for 31l/r and then vector him off to go around 180 degrees to 13r (which was the landing configuration at the airport at the time)?
Notwithstanding the article about how 'good' the coordination by the airport authority was, it seems to me these folks were kept in the air for about 10 minutes longer than needed to keep traffic moving at JFK.
Certain people on the ground may have thought he wasn't going to make it, but in the airplane it was most likely a very controlled and relatively calm environment. Assuming the airplane is flying as it should on one engine, no fire, and everything is under control, they need time to secure the engine, run the appropriate checklists and brief the flight attendants. The 10 minutes of vectoring allows them to do that, and it also allows them to burn off some extra gas. Remember, an engine failure is not an out-of-control situation. As for immediately going for 22, 22 is shorter than the 13's, and if the wind favors 13's I'd be putting it down there in an emergency.