joseph, it may well be that he put the mayday out immediately after the collision, not knowing the extent of damage to his own aircraft at that instant, only knowing that collisions can end badly, you're in a situation where you don't have time to faff about, once the mayday is out you can take stock, the Roulettes had a few collisions in their time, some fatal. Just been talking to a pal about a Mirage pilot I rescued and a double fatality Roulette accident where he found one of the pilots who later died in hospital.
Only ever had one mayday in my time, engine failure taking off from an oil rig, chap in the other seat put out a mayday and I never knew, being other wise occupied, neither of us knew whether we would end up in the water or not, time is not always on your side. Alex Crawford if you're reading, top job my man.