Maday call... or not?
Rather than a "Help me please because I'm helpless" call, I'm wondering if one of the ATCO's could let us know if there is a significant difference in initiation timing between an Uncertain Phase and Distress Phase of SAR both with and without a Mayday notification?
It would seem to me that a Mayday call (simultaneously notifying AND declaring an emergency exists) would remove any ambiguity that might possibly exist with observing (e.g. just the loss of txpdr return). In this case perhaps the crew did and the message failed to get out. We shall await the evidence.