With respect, it's not the same at all. The Aer Lingus aircraft declared a Pan, the Ryanair lads declared Maydays. The law is clear as to the distinction between the two calls. The Aer Lingus aircraft landed with comfortably over the minimum fuel, and obviously never expected to land with less, hence the call. All of the Ryanair aircraft did have an efob under the 30 mins, and whether they eventually landed with more or not does not change the legal responsibility they had to declare a Mayday. I'm not a Ryanair fan(as a company), but personally, I think that the pilots discharged their responsibilities well, and that anyone who says they couldn't end up in a similar situation is extremely naive. However, it's extremely galling that that prat O' Leary jumped straight in with a denial, and an immediate offensive on unions/competitors, without the decency of just giving the truth, with which he had obviously been furnished. Why does it take a flagrant bunch of lies, spoken with his usual arrogance, or another load of bluster from his flunky McNamara, before someone has to defend themselves, and the facts are allowed to surface. It's embarrassing for professional pilots, both Ryanair and otherwise.