Originally Posted by BOAC
Tienetti - as I said in #163 and MrH in #209, the chances of getting the truth here are slim. However, I do not have the time, but if you have it would be useful to list the callsigns involved (from FR24), when they entered the hold at MAD, when they departed for VLC and how long they held at VLC - any chance?
Assuming all 4 aircraft left the hold with a predicted fuel state of CMR at DA following an approach (they would surely not have 'committed' to MAD?) they should have been nowhere near a MAYDAY from what you describe ie "no aircraft has been kept over VLC more than 4 minutes" so it is apparent there is more to 'discover'.
2 of the MayDay are surely RYR9VR (STN) and RYR5389 (NYO) as supported by this
http://www.intereconomia.com/flv-video?embed=817649
And this
https://www.dropbox.com/s/j9zwsmnsc0...maydayryr3.wav
If you follow the tracks, you will se that none of this 2 traffic has been holding in MAD (only some vectors, let's say 10 minutes MAYBE,probably less)
RYR9VR has done 1 orbit in VLC to let the LAN land before them, while RYR5389 ALREADY declared emergency when still descending to FL130 inbound MILOS (still pretty far from VLC)
I am not sure about the others
I can see only another RYR (2054 from PMI) that diverted to VLC and another went to ALC