Hi Kaz, but will the person plead out on mental grounds, ruined life, upset stomach etc....
There was a huge waste of resources last night, there were stresses on ATC personnel who I think at the time genuinely thought they were dealing with a real person and a real aircraft in difficulty. To say over and over "I'm gone" has an effect on every person who listens to the broadcast and I am sure to the ATC controller.
It is just a sad way to entertain yourself late night and early morning and the person responsible really does need some help.
Each time something like this happens and the pilot is not sounding like a real pilot, but someone similar to the character last night, we may get a situation where ATC does not take the situation seriously and we end up with a real fatality possibly. I would hope that ATC takes every report seriously without reservation until proven otherwise.
In retrospect thinking about this much later it is easy to pick holes in everything and identify it as a hoax but at the time when you are listening live and these things are happening you get caught up in the emotion. Added to the fact that aircraft like Singapore airlines identified a beacon and a location as a third-party report gave everything real credibility. If this nutter not only has VHF radio but also an EPIRB (one of the new 406 MHz types with inbuilt GPS) I respectfully suggest that he registers the beacon properly before he uses it next time.
I am just so appreciative of ATC and the controller in particular and hope that he suffers no ill effects from this dangerous and stupid prank.