Bearcat -
I don't know what your beef is but saying
"Therefore, in a way, Shaggy is correct. It really is, all semantics"....says Anything.
Your comments are noted.....why not send your comments and your licence into the CAA.
really shows that we are 2 nations divided by a common language (If you are from across the pond), otherwise, your grasp of the written English is at fault, not my interpretation of the rules.
A PAN gets you priority - the figures for PAN or MAYDAY have been printed in posts below, though the two posters have actually written a slightly different interpretation (one of those posters happens to be you, bearcat - the other one is fox niner).
Some people might argue that a PAN is not an emergency call... but it is.
The call "fuel priority" means, and gets under 99% of normal circumstances, nothing... the pilot SHOULD be asked if he is declaring an emergency, and when he does so, he is then afforded the proper priority.
As an ATCO, I don't care how many tons of fuel that a pilot has - its the call PAN or MAYDAY that gets my attention, it's up to the pilot to make the call.
Good airmanship dictates to me that if holding in bad weather or in long delays, and fuel is starting to become an issue, a pilot tells me that he will have to divert in x amount of minutes, or his fuel may become critical in x amount of minutes, thereby allowing me and my colleagues to be ready and to pre warn people.
In those situations, we as ATCOs tend to be very busy as well, so a call out of the blue is not ideal, and a better service would be provided with a bit of pre warning.
So bearcat, I think you will find that if I went to the CAA with my licence and thay asked me about fuel emergencies, I would walk out within 10 minutes with my licence intact.
I am a current ATCO, have flown professionally in a past life and have been in the aviation industry for a number of years (though not as long as a lot of the posters on PPrune).
Teamilkandsugar -
....and a PAN is declared at what point...?
a PAN call gets called whenever a pilot feels that his A/C, a person within it or a vessel or person within sight is in danger..
As far as I am concerned it gets called whenever the hell the captain of the aircraf sees fit, for whatever reason..... I am not there to question that decision, subsequent paperwork will show whether it was warranted or not.
IMHO - I would rather have someone call a PAN or a MAYDAY first, then if they can, they downgrade it. Better that than not call it and end up in a snotty heap.
Fly the A/C (carry out the immediate actions), Navigate it, Communicate. After the subsequent actions have been carried out, an emergency call can be downgraded as the captain sees fit.