In rec.aviation.student Mark Hansen wrote:
On 04/18/08 08:38, Michael Ash wrote:
In rec.aviation.student Andy Hawkins wrote:
The PAN actually sounds to me like a good idea, but as I always say I'm
still a lowly stude! Being able to differentiate between a Mayday (basically
aircraft in imminent danger) and PAN (something that needs priority but
nothing that will endanger the aircraft in short order) seems like a good
idea to me.

Given the rarity of emergency calls, it seems like the important thing is
to make the emergency known in a simple and easy fashion first, then work
out the details later on as they're needed. The distinction is useful, but
I think that it's not worth putting extra workload on the pilot to figure
out just what degree his emergency is in his moment of crisis.

If the pilot is in a moment of crisis, then an emergency should be declared.
PAN is used when it is not at that level.

Is the imminent demise of one of your passengers not considered a moment
of crisis, or was this guy using the wrong signal?

I know that if one of my passengers started croaking in mid-flight, I'm
going to be getting on the ground in a rapid fashion and telling people to
clear out of my way and call emergency services, not arguing with people
over radio terminology.

--
Michael Ash
Rogue Amoeba Software