Yestam,
Your arguement, such as these was one, seemed to revolve around agreeing with 411 because professionalism equaled calm under pressure.
Whats wrong with CALMLY making a mayday call?
Regarding Aviate, Navigate, Communicate....
Yes, obviously retaining control of the aircraft is vital, and navigating so as not to hit anything is vital, but really.... this is a 2 crew aircraft we are talking about here. I'm not suggesting making the full 'formal' mayday call - as if anyone ever would in a time critical situation, but a truncated one takes a few seconds max and is certainly more important than going around the system panel, checklist in hand, turning off all the failed systems (which are already isolated automatically). Even in an engine fire, most types have a pregnant pause of 30 seconds or so after the first bottle is fired to see if the flames go out. Anyway, in a modern terminal environment it is mostly radar vectors, so Navigate = Communicate "Mayday - engine fire - Vector us for a 4 mile final"
pb