MAYDAY during diversion
So since the original thread was closed, I will have to ask my question here. I did not mention any company names so I hope this will not be closed as well.
Can someone explain this to me?
Obviously military aviation as I am used to, is different from commercial aviation, in respect to purpose, rules and regulation. However, the built in safety margin and more specifically the reason for it to be in place, should in my opinion be the same. For us in the military, any diversion is a planned event, and a planned event will never require a MAYDAY call. We always carry extra fuel to enable us to divert. If weather dictates that we carry enough fuel so as to be able to divert in case we can’t land at the planned destination, we do exactly that. If its VMC conditions, we still have a requirement to carry enough fuel, so that we can divert to the nearest suitable airfield, in case the destination runway closes for whatever reason, just before we land (i.e. the plane in front of me crashes on landing). Only situation I can think of that will require a MAYDAY is if the weather changes unexpectedly (below landing minima) at both the destination and the alternate, and we now have to fly to an other airfield which will result in landing with less then minimum fuel.
So having multiple aircraft from the same company, declare MAYDAY during diversion, for any other reason then unexpected worsening weather, at both destination and alternate, just sound to me like pure planning or inadequate rules/regulation/procedures. Reminds me of a situation with a carrier that had multiple diversions with MAYDAY and low fuel, during a very short duration of time, in Spain some years ago...
Or is there just a big difference between our two worlds of aviation?