Originally Posted by
sonicbum
Speaking as a trainer it's "proving" that we're not alone in the sky, especially in busy TMAs and lots of people are very interested about our future routing and intentions, such as ATCOs, other airplanes, etc..
A Mayday call given when workload permits allows other people around us to realize we're having a problem, that we didn't make that turn left at 1.3D for a reason and we're going straight instead as per our engine failure procedure, yes right in the middle of this next door major international airport approach axis. A Mayday call given when workload permits allows you not being bothered by 20 questions from ATCOs of freq. changes, why are you not following the SIDs, any problems on board, etc.. right when you are holding this master switch in your hand and confirming with the other pilot whether it's the correct engine to be shutdown. "Standby" works indeed very well, as long as people around us are aware we're having major issues, which happens when a Mayday is launched.
Yes, my point, which you seem to have missed, is just call an effing Mayday.