Radio Communications — Hydraulic Issues

— New York Approach, good afternoon, American 121, with you 12 thousand, emergency aircraft, we have Tango.
— American 121, New York Approach, good afternoon, Kennedy altimeter is 30.33, which runway would you like, 31L or 31R?
— We'll request 31R, please and …we heard you needed our fuel in pounds: 15.4 for the fuel, 130 souls on board.
— American 121, roger that, descend and maintain 9000, understand you want 31R, I think 31L should be the longer runway, do you still want to go to right side?
— er…stand by. What we really need is extra time, we need a long final, we gonna have to alternately extend landing gear and flaps.
— American 121, roger that, maintain 9000 for now and how long of a final do you need?
— Stand by. 9000, American 121, stand by.
…
— New York, American 121.
— American 121, 31L is now the longer runway and just wonna make sure you still want to go to 31R.
— Negative, sir. We will take the ILS to 31L and we’d like a 15-mile final, we’d like to get slow, so… a hundred and eighty knots.
— American 121, [no problem], expect the ILS 31L, depart ROVER heading 250.
— Depart ROVER 250 for the ILS 31L, American 121.

— Arrival, AirCanada 166.
— Sorry […].
— Yes, AirCanada 166, PAN-PAN, PAN-PAN, PAN-PAN, AirCanada 166. We have a hydraulic low pressure on one of our hydraulic systems. We are just coming through 11 thousand right now, planning for runway 25 and we are requesting emergency vehicles. We have 144 passengers on board plus 6 crew members…ok, sorry …144 and 6 crew members and our fuel on board will be about 4000 kilograms on landing and we have negative hazardous materials on board.
— Copy all that, American 166, 144 total pax, fuel 4000 kilos, no hazmat. Do you need a little delay to check this or do you need to come in as soon as possible?
— We’ll probably need a minute of delay, it’s …[fairly minor], we’ll need a minute of delay. Probably, if we could just continue to descend and maybe just do a race track pattern at [ZOLTI] or someplace like that. We’re good, we’re good maybe 6000 feet at ZOLTI, maybe one race track pattern.
— AirCanada 166 at your discretion descend to 6000 and at ZOLTI, left-hand holding pattern on the STAR inbound track, and maintain 6000. 10-mile legs approved, approach clearance at 23:15.
— ZOLTI at 6000 feet and inbound on the STAR, AirCanada 166.
— Roger, AirCanada 166, 10-mile legs approved, expect further at 23:15.
— Roger, 10 miles and 23:15, AirCanada 166..

— Ok, Shamrock 11EA, sir, we do have a technical issue here, we’ve lost our hydraulic system, one hydraulic system, so we’re gonna have to return to Kennedy at some stage, not quite yet. We’d like you to inform Kennedy please that we have lost hydraulic fluid and it may have been dumped on the runway, we are not sure. Please stand by for further, Shamrock 11EA.
— You’ve lost hydraulic fluid and you [are turning to Kennedy], I got that. Fly heading 080, vectors for [].
— That copied, heading 080, Shamrock 11EA.
— 1EA, you are not requiring any [] assistance, is that correct? No fire trucks?
— Affirm, not for now, Shamrock 11EA, thanks.
….
— Center, Shamrock 11EA?
— Shamrock 11EA, go ahead.
— Yes, sir, we think we gonna need about 30 minutes, quite a long check list that we’ve got to work through. We can take a left turn towards the airport and take up a hold at the airport.
— Shamrock 11EA, you are cleared a left turn to CCC, hold North-East as published with left-hand turns, 10-mile legs are approved, expect further clearance 23:15.
— Ok, left turn direct [navaid], take up a hold as published, Shamrock 11EA.
— Shamrock 11EA, advise me when you would like to make an approach to Kennedy.
— Wilco, Shamrock 11EA.
…
— Go ahead.
— Can you [pass on] some messages to Kennedy for us?
— Yes, I can.
— First of all, is it possible to request the ILS for 22L? Also, hwen we land, we will be oonable to vacate the runway as nosewheel steering is inoperative. Also, our landing gear doors will be extended upon landing, normally they are retracted but in this situation they will remain extended. It’s not an issue but it looks a little bit different from how we normally.
— Ok, Shamrock 11EA, you wanna land 22L, you will not be able to vacate the runway and your landing gear doors will be extended, is that all correct?
— Affirm, one last thing. We have a slightly higher landing speed, it’s within our normal operation but because we have left hydraulics, we a have lower flap setting, so [we’ll be] touching down a little bit faster than normal. We checked our figures and it’s all within our tolerances.
— Shamrock 11EA, copied, and are you ready to return to Kennedy?
— Not yet, in 5 minutes we’ll call you when we are ready.
— Thank you very much.