Incidental to the real gist of the thread but:
captain I know recently got excreted upon from a disorientating altitude for declaring an emergency as she wasn't sure from the mess of warning lights whether it was a particular minor fault which was problematic but not essentially life threatening or another which indicated immediate likelihood of complete hydraulic and brake failure. It would have been extremely difficult under duress to determine which of these scenarios prevailed and she had a full pax load. So she responded in the affirmative to ATC's request as to whether she was declaring an emergency.
The reason 'management' was upset ? Cos now they would get a bill for calling out the emergency services...