Originally Posted by Big Pistons Forever
The pilot said "smoke in the cockpit" and then gave his flight number. What part of that did the controller not understand.
Evidently, all of it.
Sure, the controller might have been a bit sharper on the uptake, or made a broadcast requesting more info, but the problem began when the pilot in trouble failed to announce he was in trouble clearly.
The controller then assumes (yeah, really bad idea) that it is probably a prank call.
So it seems to me there are fairly serious failings and assumptions on both sides.
A 7700 code might have made things clear to the controller, too, if it was so hard to communicate correctly due to workload or masks.
To the pilots: How long does it take to set that on the transponder?