[QUOTE=Zeke129;21510822]Your post was informative, but I have to ask: what happens if multiple maydays are called in the same area at the same time?[/QUOTE]
Depending on the nature of each emergency, ATC would prioritis eair traffic, potentially diverting aircraft which isn't directly at risk to other nearby airfields or putting them in holds in the local airspace. If the controller deams the workload too much, he may very well give the aircraft to another air traffic control unit altogether.
[QUOTE=squeaky024;21513406]Most likely that won't happen, but If it does ATC would probably attempt to direct them away from each other.[/QUOTE]
The only trouble with this is an emergency more often than not wants to land as [B]SOON[/B] as possible, no messing around. Worst case scenario - entire engine and hydraulic system failure, so the aircraft is literally a very heavy glider. So the air traffic controller would not be able to turn aircraft with that nature of emergency away from anything else - he would simply have to prioritise..
Unfortunately the ash cloud posed a huge risk to aircraft engines, meaning that if aircraft DID loose both engines, and they did have to glide to an airfield, then ATC would have a hard job having them under their control, let alone controlling them at all..
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