Regarding the Mayday, this is encouraged by the FAA if the pilot is
concerned about his safety - whether founded or unfounded. They are there
to help and can decide how urgent the matter is. Perhaps the pilot was
simply a low time pilot or perhaps no one knew he was flying in that area.
Perhaps he did something bonehead, but that can be discussed later.
Remember, the FAA is there to help and prevent accidents. Although soaring
pilots rarely get lost these days, pilots were encouraged to call in
whenever they got disoriented and still are when they are in a position of
low visibility. I think the terminology is less important than letting the
FSS or other facility the pilot needs help.

Regarding SAR, I am a member of SAR and have been involved in a number of
searches. Once a beacon is turned on, we are going to try to find the
source. If it turns off, we still are going to look for the cause and
assume the battery failed. So, do not turn it on unless you want to be
found. If you know you are gong to crash, that is a good reason to turn the
ELT on.

ELTs do not assure immediate location, which is why they have moved to a
higher frequency. Most of the ELTs we track down are on perfectly good
airplanes, with no accident. Could be a hard landing or defective
workmanship. The satellites report by traingulation of passing satellites
and sometimes the report given to us is far away from where found. The most
difficult case is when an instructor throws his bag into the back and
activates the ELT, then keeps flying for another hour. One tracker was
right under the airplane and reported that the signal strength was the same
in every direction. Later, he learned he had been under the missing
airplane.

And, remember that motorgliders are often not 50/1 ships. Some are as low
as 23/1.

Colin