Let me add a bit of history to this discussion about declaring an emergency on a congested frequency.
While researching a Cirrus accident from 2010 in which the pilot was flying VFR and not talking to ATC, he declared an emergency on 121.5. We have an audio recording of that transmission and the follow-up. Several sectors heard the transmission and attempted to reach the pilot in sequence. Unfortunately, the replies from the pilot in distress were fragmentary, took several retransmissions, and lacked some crucial information to clarify if west or east of a named location.
This pilot in that earlier accident was not talking to anyone. And it took a while to sort things out. Time that others might not have.
My take-away lessons for handling an emergency:
1) Best to be in communication when IFR or even VFR, what folks in the US call flight-following
2) Best to declare with the agency who is following you since they have your info, especially location
3) Best to squawk 7700 as a redundancy to the radio
4) Best to monitor 121.5, as strongly urged by the FAA when you have 2 radios, to help others
5) Carry a 406mHz PLB on your person, and know how to activate it
Cheers
Rick
* edited to clarify that this history applies to an older Cirrus accident
Last edited by sdbeach; 26th Jul 2013 at 23:21.