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A pilot is absolutely in its right to ignore ATC if they think it's necessary for the safety of the passengers and/or aircraft. ATC is a service to pilots in th
by wereHamster 5y ago
A pilot is absolutely in its right to ignore ATC if they think it's necessary for the safety of the passengers and/or aircraft. ATC is a service to pilots in the air, they provide support. The ultimate decision how to perform the flight lies with the captain.
If the aircraft was intercepted by fighters, that makes it more difficult to disobey ATCs orders. But if an ATC tells the aircraft to do X, the pilot can say «No, I'm not going to follow your instructions (because it would endanger the safety of the aircraft and/or passengers) and I'm going to do Y instead». It helps to convince the ATC of the situation if the pilot declares an emergency. Declaring an emergency is something that happens all the time, at most it means some paperwork for the pilot after they land.
- himinlomax 5y agoI doubt the pilots knew anything about the reason for the piracy. The only thing they knew was what the ATC told them, no matter how outlandish, and that they had MiGs intercepting them.
- SideburnsOfDoom 5y agoRight. Confusion and chaos are friends to criminals. It's likely that by design of the criminals, the pilots were unaware or unsure of what was actually going on, until it was too late. The IED story turned out to be false, and we still don't know about the MiGs.