Originally Posted by
MrSnuggles
Referencing Avianca 52...
...they were under the impression that they indeed HAD requested emergency assistance due to their word "priority" and the slightly different meaning it had in whatever Spanish related dialect those poor chaps spoke.
This crew also uses "priority", could it be that this means something like "emergency" in South America? Sure, native English speakers of course use their words of choice, but Spanish/Portuguese speakers maybe use "priority" when they are in Spanish/Portuguese speaking environments?
Anyone who could clarify this?
They were communicating in native Spanish. The crew and ground are Spanish speakers, not Portuguese. "Emergencia" would be emergency. I get the sense that he wasn't aware of the seriousness of the situation until it was too late or that as others have suggested, he was reluctant to admit its seriousness. Difficult to know.