A B737-300's trailing edge flaps did not extend on approach; but the leading edge devices did. An em...

Narrative:

After declaring an emergency for a split flap condition; we diverted and executed a flap less than 1; led full landing in accordance with our QRH. Landing was uneventful; and we had informed tower that we would like to stop straight ahead on the runway and let emergency equipment take a look at the aircraft for blown tires; damage; etc. We brought the aircraft to a stop on runway and were told to switch to ground frequency; which we did. We were not able to communicate with emergency vehicles effectively because ground control was giving a continuous stream of taxi directions to a multitude of aircraft. Other than occasional one or two word exchanges; we had no contact with fire trucks at all; and did not know their position. We finally switched back to tower and asked if there was a discrete frequency we could use to coordinate with fire/rescue. Tower said that there was not; but to go back to ground. After about 10 minutes we finally learned that our aircraft was ok to continue to the gate; which we did. In talking with the fire/rescue operators afterward; they acknowledged frustration with not having a dedicated frequency and having to work around ground control. The airport really needs to have a more effective means of communicating between emergency aircraft and fire/rescue. The situation we encountered was unacceptable.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737-300's trailing edge flaps did not extend on approach; but the leading edge devices did. An emergency was declared; the QRH completed and a successful landing completed but the crew had communications difficulty with Air Crash Fire crews.

Narrative: After declaring an emergency for a split flap condition; we diverted and executed a Flap less than 1; LED full landing IAW our QRH. Landing was uneventful; and we had informed Tower that we would like to stop straight ahead on the runway and let emergency equipment take a look at the aircraft for blown tires; damage; etc. We brought the aircraft to a stop on runway and were told to switch to Ground frequency; which we did. We were not able to communicate with emergency vehicles effectively because Ground Control was giving a continuous stream of taxi directions to a multitude of aircraft. Other than occasional one or two word exchanges; we had no contact with fire trucks at all; and did not know their position. We finally switched back to Tower and asked if there was a discrete frequency we could use to coordinate with fire/rescue. Tower said that there was not; but to go back to Ground. After about 10 minutes we finally learned that our aircraft was OK to continue to the gate; which we did. In talking with the fire/rescue operators afterward; they acknowledged frustration with not having a dedicated frequency and having to work around Ground Control. The airport really needs to have a more effective means of communicating between emergency aircraft and fire/rescue. The situation we encountered was unacceptable.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1065186
Time
Date	201301
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	Mixed
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-300
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Trailing Edge Flap
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 208 Flight Crew Type 12000
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

A B737-300's trailing edge flaps did not extend on approach; but the leading edge devices did. An emergency was declared; the QRH completed and a successful landing completed but the crew had communications difficulty with air crash fire crews.