Originally Posted by
Matt2725
From the audio I heard, even after the pilot declared they were an emergency, the next controller on approached asked again if they were an emergency aircraft (not sure why this wasn't passed on. I can only assume the Alaska wasn't squawking 7700 for some reason). The pilot reponsed in the affirmative, and gave the souls and fuel onboard. Yet soon after, ATC asked for souls and fuel onboard, which required the same readback again.
Not sure what we going on with the controllers, but the communication seemed pretty poor throughout.
Exactly my first thought when I heard the ATC comms.
Declaring mayday is an unambiguous, worldwide recognised statement that gets everyone’s attention.
The Thomson incident from the early 2000’s that someone posted here is a clear example of how to communicate.
Friend of mine recently had to call the coastguard on the telephone as his boat was on fire and he couldn’t get to the VHF. Even on the phone, he went through the mayday sequence because it told the coastguard two important things:
1- All the relevant info
2- The person on the phone knows what they are talking about.