Maxred
Apologies, I feel I have perhaps made my point badly. The point I was trying to make is I disagree with FBW’s assertion that you should always make your initial emergency call on the freq you are on at the time. In most circumstances I would agree with that but the case in point was about a channel crossing and the validity of declaring a mayday on the London Info freq. Anyone who offered an opinion contrary to FBW was accused of “sadly that shows how little you know about how the system works” and “not interested in listening to those in the know”. Incidentally, there are also people “in the know” on here that don’t work at Scottish Information.
I wholeheartedly agree that in general terms if you are in contact with an ATSU and have an emergency then it is highly probable that declaring it on that freq is the way ahead. However we were discussing particular circumstances involving the Channel crossing with London Info and the point I was trying to make is there are times that 124.600 is a very busy and congested frequency especially so during sunny weekends. Even if you manage to begin your transmission there is an excellent chance that pilot B many miles away at 2000 wont hear your transmission on 124.600 and will talk over the top of you blissfully unaware that you are trying to get a mayday out and London Info wont hear it or at best get a garbled message…it happens.
All I was suggesting and disagreeing with FBW over, is that there are other options and considerations (as suggested by several posters) other than religiously transmitting on the freq presently in use particularly if on a busy London Info freq. If I were crossing the channel with London Info on a typically busy RT day and wished to declare a Mayday, I would squawk 7700 and call D&D on 121.5 in a heartbeat.
Just my opinion, if you don’t agree with me, that is absolutely fine, I most certainly will not question anyone’s knowledge or accuse others of ignoring one in the know.
Safe flying
Moli
Last edited by Moli; 26th Jul 2013 at 15:36.