On 04/18/08 13:35, Michael Ash wrote:
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?

Your concerned seemed to be that the pilot may be too overloaded to have
to think about whether he should use MAYDAY or PAN. My comment is that
if he is in such a state, he should just use MAYDAY.


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.

Of course. I wasn't suggesting otherwise.


--
Mark Hansen, PP-ASEL, Instrument Airplane, USUA Ultralight Pilot
Cal Aggie Flying Farmers
Sacramento, CA