checked with the flight crew as he continued to work other traffic. Unfortunately, for the passengers and crew onboard this flight specific phraseology did not exist for the controller to use when he noticed the aircraft’s altitude readout indicate a gradual descent. The aircraft had been flying around at two thousand feet for about twenty minutes, casually reporting their status periodically. After noticing the descent, the controller asked the flight crew: “Eastern 401, ah how are things coming along out there?” The crew responded “Okay, we’d like to turn around and come back in.” The controller did not know that the altitude hold feature of the aircraft’s autopilot had been inadvertently turned off. Thirty seconds later the aircraft flew into the Everglades and disappeared from the Approach Control radar screen.The controller new something was amiss. However, an informal atmosphere had developed because the flight crew never declared an emergency and the controller was distracted with other duties he did not persist in inquiring about the aircraft’s gradual descent. Additionally the controller believed that he was providing excellent service to the flight crew by providing the extra service the flight crew requested. Today controllers know to say: “(aircraft Identity) low altitude alert! Check your altitude immediately!” Some would say that the controller should have said something else to alert the flight crew of their descent. That is the reason for the new phraseology and an example of “Blood Priority”. Blood Priority can be defined as: Nothing regulatory speaking happens until after a dramatic accident occurs that receives media attention resulting in raised public outcry which prompts legislative action to correct the problem.The system failed in this case and many others because it is resistant to change. The resistance comes from human nature a...
