On 04/18/08 14:12, Michael Ash wrote:
In rec.aviation.student Mark Hansen wrote:
On 04/18/08 13:35, Michael Ash wrote:
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.

Well, I'm concerned that the decision adds to the load. There will always
be borderline cases. It seems to me that it would be better to have a
universal "I'm in trouble, pay attention to me now" call and leave the
distinctions for followup communications.

There is. It is called MAYDAY. That was my point. If you're not sure
what to use, use MAYDAY.

However, a sick passenger that needs to get on the ground as soon as
possible is less of an emergency than an engine fire, or a loss of
control authority.

However, if you don't want to try to think about the difference, just
use MAYDAY.



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