For those who are interested in how this engine out scenario played out:
Looks like they lost the engine shortly after take off whilst still early in the climb and obviously, very near to the field they have just taken off from.
The pilot declares an emergency. Which is important, because it will get them priority over anything else happening in that air space. He also tells ATC immediately what the problem is (engine out) and what he needs (return to field). Good radio procedure.
There is a well known issue with pilots calling out an emergency. For some it is almost a stigma. Some pilots just will not call out an emergency. They might just request priority, but it is not the same thing at all. There is this believe that when you call out an emergency you will be investigated, by the authorities, your employer, it might be held against you in the future etc. Then there is the worst kind, where pilots thinks they are such hot shot pilots they do not need to call out an emergency. Real pilots do not call out emergencies sort of approach, they just land the plane safely without anybody noticing. Real macho, real stupid.
This plane would have landed safely, if the pilot had just requested ATC “to return to the field due to some technical difficulties.” (You need to provide a reason to deviate from your filed flight plan). It would have landed safely and nobody would have been the wiser.
But calling out an emergency is just a very wise precaution. Because in the world of aviation it gets you immediate focus and priority from everybody. Traffic in the area gets cleared, Fire engines get readied etc. All about precautions, safety first, just in case. Some procedures/check list will stipulate specifically “declare emergency”.
Yes, you will get a call from the FAA, you might have to file reports, but it is still the appropriate thing to do. Good carriers will look into every emergency that happens on their fleet, but pilots won’t be punished for it. Or should not, there are some stories out their of certain carriers who might take a dim view on calling a simple engine out, with an empty plane, an emergency.
I once declared an emergency very early on in my piloting career. I might have still been a student pilot at the time. Got great assistance from ATC. Landed safely, no problem. The next day I got a call from the FAA I believe, Told the guy what happened, he said, you did great and asked me to put my story in an email. That was it, never heard anything from it. Other than my flying club wanted to know what happened and asked me to present my experience during one of our club meetings.
Here an interesting link about this very topic and pilots reluctance:
http://code7700.com/emergency.htm
A few other pointers to what happens in the video.
As soon as the pilot call out the emergency and tells ATC they need to return, ATC start helping them get back to the field in the quickest way. They need to fly a so called circuit. Essentially back tracking (so called downwind) parallel to the runway to start the landing approach into the wind.
You can hear ATC assigning them a block altitude 2-3000. Which means they can fly any altitude between 2000-3000 foot at their discretion. They do not need to tell ATC which altitude they’re at as long as it is between 2000-3000. They can just concentrate on flying.
You can hear ATC asking about “fuel and number of souls on board”. This is standard practice once an emergency has been declared. ATC wants to understand how long the aircraft can still be airborne and how many people are on the plane, which is an important aspect for the fire crews. You will notice that ATC seemed a bit surprised when the number of souls onboard is reported as 2. He asks for confirmation from the pilot, telling him he needs to total number, crew and passengers. He was not expecting a 737 just to have only two pilots on board.
Once they have have landed, there is an exchange between the pilot and ATC where to go. Gate or hangar. The pilot requests gate. ATC tells him to hold, because the fire crew still need to do a proper inspection. It might be an indication that as far as the pilots are concerned at that point in time, everything is fine. They have no abnormal indications in the cockpit and just want to go back to the gate. Not even hangar.
Note that although they have the fire crews at the readies, the pilot does not discuss the need to evacuate the plane upon landing with ATC. So by all means he was expecting a normal landing, just precaution to have the fire crews at the ready.
I hope this gives some insights as to what an emergency can look like. In this case, a lot of it is first and foremost precautionary, safety first. If they engine has been on fire, rather than just stopped working, it might have been handled somewhat differently. Because once landed they would be wary of any fire flaring up again and they might have discussed evacuation scenario’s too.
Jeroen