If I may introduce another factor into this thread.....
I was in the tower (departures) when the AZA radio fail came in (we were all very interested to see how he was going to get from FL70 to the threshold in 6 miles...thankfully he broke off and went back for another try<g> ). The only action taken was to get a Follow-Me out to the runway to lead him to stand. Nothing was 'put on' in anticipation of the a/c landing, neither a Local Standby nor a Full Emergency, and I recall someone saying in the background that if there was anything else wrong he would squawk 7700.
Is this fair? IIRC during my time at CATC I'm sure I used to put on a F. Emergency for complete radio fail, just in case there's anything else wrong.
In these days of glass cockpit a/c is this being too 'belt and braces'?
Thoughts?
Gonzo