How many souls on board?

It should be a completely normal day. The weather forecast predicted only light winds and no turbulence. Ideal conditions for the return flight from Sylt Westerland to Dresden. Everything is routine. The biggest excitement is the bumpy taxiway A and the question of whether we should contact the tower again to cross the other runway.

We fly with Say Intentions. An AI ATC tool that inspires us every time. The student mode in particular allows us to make the odd polite enquiry.

We have just arrived at cruising altitude when a master alarm jolts us out of our relaxed atmosphere. 

What's going on now? We hadn't set any failures, had we?

The mood takes a completely different turn. Let's start working through the ECAM checklists. Part of the checklist: NOTIFY ATC. We've never done that before! Is an engine fire a mayday? Or is it enough to declare an emergency? We decide in favour of the latter and explain our problem to ATC.

To our surprise. ATC understands our problem very well and asks what we want to do next. We decide to divert to Berlin-Brandenburg (EDDB). And ATC understands us! We get vectors for the 06R in Berlin. As we are still 23,000 feet up, ATC lets us descend in circles.

"If you have a moment: How many souls on board and remaining fuel?" 

The question is actually quite logical, but we were just on a relaxed flight home. And even though we are of course aware that it is only a simulator flight, the question hits us in the gut. How easy or difficult is it for a real pilot to switch from routine to emergency? For our part, we are definitely glad that there are professionals sitting in the front of the real aircraft....

We are given priority on the approach and Approach kindly informs us that emergency services are ready for us. The landing works quite well due to the unproblematic weather conditions and so we come to a halt on a high-speed taxiway.

Somehow we think that the challenge is over, but suddenly there are fire engines all around us and we can see the smoke darkening the sky. It's not over yet. Not so easy to assess the situation from the cockpit...

It's a matter of judgement. After all, passengers can get injured during an evacuation. But as the smoke is still coming out, we decide to evacuate after all. ATC is informed. And now everyone out!

Of course, we were aware the whole time that we weren't in any physical danger. But you do immerse yourself very deeply in the simulation. Why is that? Because everything around you seems so real. You're sitting in a closed cockpit. The defective engine has also caused the air conditioning to fail and it gets hot and stuffy in the cockpit.

The emergency was completely unexpected. Nothing was planned. (And we weren't actually well prepared either!). The communication with ATC was so real that at times we really had the feeling that there was someone on the other end of the line who was helping us through the situation professionally.

It was an impressive experience that we would gladly do without in real life. Our respect goes to the pilots who have to cope with these situations in real life.

But we are also impressed by Say Intentions. The probability of crises can be set in the programme. We had set this to 10% and then forgotten about it. Say Intention is one of the few add-ons that we can recommend without reservation for both beginners and professionals after this experience. Conclusion: Wow!

And if you're interested in the aircon in the cockpit: Tutorial - Cockpit Ventilation

PS: This may sound like paid advertisement for SI, but it's not. It was simply impressive!