Mayday or not
Very few of you seem to be aware of asking for the emergency services to be on ' Local Standby'.
Any air traffickers out there will confirm that this term is used in the Manual of Air Traffic.
It seems that currently in this country it is up to the air traffick controler to make the decision of wether or not it is a full emergency (requiring area hospitals and RFS) or just the local airport ones. I should think that the best person to be the judge of that is the Captain or F/O if the Captain is U/S.
As for not declaring an emergency with either an engine failure or crew incapacitation is asking for trouble. Remeber that accidents are always chains and that could well be one of the links.
Trying to be macho about it will probably get you in a whole heap of trouble. Remember the Avianco crash in NY.