General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Most rational hypothesis on missing Malaysian 777 so far [View all]Kelvin Mace
(17,469 posts)In an emergency your priorities are:
1) Keep the plane in the air.
2) Find a safe place to land
3) Communicate with the ground
If there is a sudden fire alert, you deal with that first, which in the case of an electrical fire means pull the plug on the suspected circuit.
You then execute a course to the nearest airfield that can handle your situation. If you are on fire, heavy with fuel, you need a runway that can handle your plane. You set your course, then go back to getting the fire under control. If the fire has damaged your communications, then you may not be able to explain your emergency to the ground. If you are then overcome by the emergency, you no longer control the plane and it flies on autopilot until it runes out of fuel or the fire destroys the plane's ability to stay in the air.