Originally Posted by Confabulous
No use waffling on the radio, it's not really going to get you any help.
When you call "MAYDAY", ATC will give you priority, give you what you want in terms of radar vectors, altitudes etc. In some areas, the other traffic may be moved to another freq. and you may get a controller to yourself removing the distractionj of the noise in your ears. I'd consider all of those a huge amount of help if in a non-stadard situation.
In addition to that, a mayday call can be reeled off in a few seconds - hardly waffling if done correctly.