Aeroflot A330 Refused Medical Diversion by NY ATC?

[SkyViking]

Read the following article and find there may be more to it than stated.

http://avherald.com/h?article=4210c8b2&opt=2048

Anyone find any audio clips of the Aeroflot flight talking to NYC or BOS centers?

[sykocus]

I can answer the question you pose in the subject line. No they weren't denied by NY ATC. A controller's job is to prevent collisions, facilitate the safe and expeditious flow of traffic and issue safety alerts. Deciding who can land where is not their job (beyond when safety is a factor). A controller may be the one to deliver the message, but making the decision is not in the scope of their job.

[Pilot3033]

I've seen this article pop up in a few aviation forums, and I really find that disappointing. It is a very poorly written article with an incredibly sensationalist headline and no real source. The comments range from attacking the US to trying to re-start the cold war with very few actually using reasoning skills.

The US didn't "refuse" the aircraft from landing in the US or at JFK, in all likelihood the decision was made by pilot in command to continue to YYZ after discussing the situation with the company. IIRC, Aeroflot maintains a station at YYZ, and I assume the paperwork and traffic and inconveniences would be lessened by going there as opposed to the always busy, can never find a slot open JFK. Had the situation been more serious (heart attack, some other more urgent medical issue), I guarantee the plane would have landed at the closest reasonable airport.

The confusion likely stems from a translation error (either from language, or exaggeration by an over-extied passenger).

[magic1085]

I found a short blurb on Bos Centers atlantic feed archive at about 0345Z  on 8 Oct and the pilot was mentioning possible epilepsy, but it was only one sided, you couldn't hear the controller, and he got handed of to an indecipherable (to me) frequency and I didn't hear anything from him around the same time on any of the other ARTCC feeds so I have no idea where he got handed off to...

That is as much as I could find by digging around...

Hope that helps...

[glencar]

I was "NY ATC" that night & I was told AFL was coming in with a medical emergency & then I was told a half hour later that he'd gone on to Canada instead. I certainly didn't "refuse" him anything.