Originally Posted by
Piltdown Man
Whenever I have declared an emergency I have always let ATC know what our problem is, the implications of that problem, what I want from them and what I don't. How they deal with things is up to them. I'm sure this crew will have done the same.
That's very likely the case in this instance, too.
The problem would appear to be that by the time the message got through to the police it had become the aeronautical equivalent of "send three and fourpence, we're going to a dance".
