Yeah I'd probably do the same, as with Luton at least you would have full ATC until you landed, whereas Panshanger or elsewhere you may only get A/G near the end, which isnt much comfort if you are embedded in a storm. I know of the Strasser Scheme, but dont know the in's and out's but I assume Luton is not part of the scheme, or they did not consider your diversion an emergency.
And I am based at Panshanger, and have probably something like 500 landing there, and I'll be honest I struggle to find it sometimes, especially coming from the East at low level as it's dipped down behind loads of houses and stuff, so you probably did the right thing, even if it was costly.
Yes they did charge me, and it was a substantial amount.
Just forget about that... You did the right thing. In a threatening situation, like you were in, the cost of a diverted landing is the last thing you should worry about.
I have never declared an emergency, or "pan". I was always too busy dealing with whatever it was. I did not ever have the sense that declaring an emergency would bring any resources to me that were not already being provided. I have certainly asked for help a number of times, and always received what I needed (that ATC could provide).
I've had lots of things go wrong in planes which required immediate and decisive action, but unless there is actually something you need which is triggered by the emergency call (like fire trucks or a SWAT team along the runway), my preference is just to notify ATC that I'm dealing with XX, and take care of it myself. I have asked for information relays of maintenance information during landing gear failures, but always got the gear down, so did not need the fire trucks.
I did, a couple of years ago when I got smoke and fumes in the cockpit (PA28). I thought it was the autopilot control unit, but couldn't be 100% sure. Called MAYDAY, squawked 7700 briefly, declared my intentions (to carry on to destination and land straight in, with a tailwind), then turned everything off.
The advantage of doing so was that the circuit at destination was cleared of all traffic (with some unorthodox, non CAP413 compliant but full of common sense A/G radio instructions), I had the place to myself for my non-radio tailwind arrival and the RFFS were waiting.
All ended well, no fire, it was the autopilot, but the thought of fire in the air was very scary.
Did once; between Turweston and Cranfield, in IMC. Fairly rapid drop in CHT on one cylinder (of the 4). Engine seemed to hiccup and was concerned that this was indication of imminent significant engine failure. Spoke to Cranfield ATC, declared pan and requested & got direct join to a short ILS. Cranfield were excellent (ATC, fire who attended, and also waived the landing fee).
Landed without incident; turned out to be the sensor, not the piston.
The cost or charge whatever you prefer to call it, should NEVER register in your thinking if you feel there is imminent danger to you. Fly the aeroplane and remember your training, take the best option you can think of and sometime afterwards, if you survived, you can argue over money. I have to say that over the last 30 years I have had no mechanical failures that really concerned me. The only issues have been a loss of vacuum instruments whilst good VMC on top and a failed magneto (not at the same time) but the other magneto made sure we landed at a suitable diversion. Actually at the time the magneto failed we were high over the Pennines and LBA provided a most excellent service and arranged for another airfield (nearest) to stay open until we landed there.
The cost or charge whatever you prefer to call it, should NEVER register in your thinking if you feel there is imminent danger to you
Depends how imminent I think.
I've had the occasion where I simply landed in a field, or the airfield directly beneath me because anything else would have been stupid.
On the other hand I had an occasion where I realised - 45 minutes before it was going to be a problem, that I did not have enough fuel to make my destination because of shifted and strengthening winds. I asked ATC for a diversion, and was given a choice of a very expensive business jet base, or a military airfield. On the grounds that it was likely to be a lot less financially painful, I opted for the slightly more distant military airfield.
G
Had three "pan" situations. The first as a student pilot going from Beaumont to Houston Gulf Airport at night with my instructor when the alternator failed. We decided to continue to our destination (our home base) since it wasn't all that far away.
The second time was also in Houston when a valve stuck in our Cessna 140's engine immediately after takeoff, probably under 50 feet. No PAN was declared, I was at a low altitude and still had 4000 feet of remaining runway so I just pulled the throttle to idle and landed straight ahead.
The most recent one was when a load shifted unexpectedly causing a sudden and rather surprising change in the control forces right after takeoff just when there was not enough runway remaining to just land straight ahead. This time it was in Britain, and I was flying with a friend (the owner of the aircraft) who had less than 100 hours. He handed the control to me, I, noted the abnormal forward stick pressure required to maintain our climb attitude, and declared a pan with ATC saying we had a control anomaly while trying to retrim the aircraft. It was probably a bit quick to do it that early before trying to retrim the aircraft, but given the change had been sudden (and at that point unexplained) it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. As we went around the circuit my friend discovered the problem and with the limited movement you have in the aircraft, tried to redistribute the load. We landed without incident but were followed by fire appliances.
I have had a few problems which resulted in changes of plan, including things like a voltage regulator failure in a TB10, a blocked static port in a TB20, a weird avionics problem in a Citation that resulted in loss of both ADC's, one of the AHRS, and hence the autopilot, and various hydraulic and anti-icing problems.
The only real Mayday was in a KingAir 90 in the cruise from Newquay to Gamston, somewhere over the Bristol Channel. We got a woody smell which my friend in the right seat went to the back to investigate (because that's where the coffee maker is). On looking forward he saw smoke seeping into the cockpit area. It was obviously an electrical smoke problem, so we diverted into Cardiff. We decided to deviate from the checklist, and dumped all electrics except one com set, briefly switching it on again to put the gear down.
We landed at Cardiff with a complete complement of fire appliances in attendance, and despite our insistence we were happy to taxi off the runway the fire chief insisted we shut down on the centreline.
After the firemen had determined the hot area was cooling down (it was under the Pilot's side floor near the rudder pedals) they asked us to taxi clear. In view of the unknown fault I declined on the basis that the first thing we would have to do to start up was to turn the Battery Master on! The firemen then helped push the aircraft off the runway.
It was the vent fan blower motor. Cardiff charged us full price for the landing.
