I flew out of Hilo, in Hawaii last evening and shortly after take off I had an engine failure on my Bombardier CRJ200. So with just one engine I declared an emergency and opted to return to Hilo Int'l. I was given vectors to fly and while on the downwind leg I wondered how far out I was going to be taken. Eventually I decided not to wait any longer and turned to intercept the ILS. After lining up, RC ATC instructed me to resume the downwind heading, which I ignored and landed without clearance.It seemed to me that the only thing that declaring an emergency did was to get me the vectors to get me back to the airport but not as quickly as possible. Is this normal ATC behaviour? If not will v5 be any different?It's still the best add-on for FS by the way!Iain Smith

probably depends on the msa of the airport, what your altitude was, and where you were for the downwind length.i'm a little surprised. maybe you can see if you can duplicate the problem.if you can, send the .pln, and i'll see what can be done for v5jd

>probably depends on the msa of the airport, what your>altitude was, and where you were for the downwind length.The msa may be about 4 or 5000 ft as there are hills on one side. However the downwind leg was taking me out to sea. I was only about 3500 feet when I declared the emergency.>>i'm a little surprised. maybe you can see if you can duplicate>the problem.I'll give it a try in the next day or two. I won't put an engine out, I'll just declare it!>>if you can, send the .pln, and i'll see what can be done for>v5Will do jd. Thanks for your response.Iain

Well, jd, I did the flight again and declared an engine out at about the same point and alt. This time, however, I followed ATC instructions except he wanted me to fly at 7000 feet when I was at 5000. I stayed at that height and the watchdog must have been off as I wasn't yelled at. Again, the downwind leg took me out to sea and I was taken out the usual 26m from the runway before being turned to approach. This does not seem to me to be an emergency response but then again I'm no expert.The msa for Hilo is 7000 feet so flying in there I'd file a NOTAM but should one do this when flying out of such an airport?I'll send you the .pln jd.Iain

if the msa is 7000, i'm going to want you above the msa.as an experiment, try duplicating the emergency where the msa is very low. see what happens. that will give a hint where to lookjd

OK jd, I duplicated the emergency at my local airport here in the UK, Coventry (EGBE).Coventry has an msa of 2300 ft, a single runway 05/23 and with a very light (4 kt) wind coming from 330, the 05 end was the active. I took off, heading 050 and at about 2000ft I shut down the starboard engine and declared an emergency.My return to EGBE was most expeditious and I was vectored to a short final of 5 miles cleared to land on the 23 end.So as you expected, my original emergency experience was due to the msa being 7000 ft.Full marks to Radar Contact!Iain Smith