No Mayday - Again
And yet again we see the reluctance for U.S. pilots to declare MAYDAY!! MAYDAY!! MAYDAY!! that gets EVERYBODYS immediate attention rather than a mumbled call and where a controller had to ask "are you an emergency or do you just wish to return to Portland" that was after he stopped their descent at 7000' from what I could hear on the R/T recording, posted earlier. Unless, of course, you don't consider having a piece of your aeroplane falling off causing an explosive decompression (or should that be an unplanned pressure operated, gravity assisted, removal of a fuselage panel and internal atmosphere) A342