Originally Posted by
PENKO
-No one on this thread suggests that you should 'just start turning all over the airspace'.
-Deviating from an SID is not an emergency in itself.
-Turn the question around, do you have less legal authority as a captain if you fail to call MAYDAY after an engine failure but otherwise communicate your intentions and situation?
You cannot -from a regulations perspective- deviate from a cleared routing (SID in this case) unless You coordinate an alternative routing (eg. wx avoidance headings or rerouting) or declare at the very least a state of urgency or distress. You are confusing the authority of the PIC which is always to act in the interest of safety even if this goes against rules and regulations with compliance with said rules and regulations.
If You declare nothing in terms of Urgency or Distress with an engine failure, in terms of ATC you will always have the same priority as any other traffic and will be expected to behave as any other traffic, i.e. comply with your clearance. This is what happens on a Quad where you will be able to keep flying the cleared routing but it’s a completely different story on twin.