Air Bus Driver

Very interesting topic indeed!

At SWR we were taught, that we always should use the mayday-prefix to declare an emergency, as it creates probably the most attention! Especially on crwoded frequencies, where ppl (pilots & controllers) have their finger ready to push the mic-butten, just waiting for the gap in the previous transmission, a "mayday, mayday, mayday" will let everyone shut up at once!

Also, this way atc's "station calling, say again!" can most probably be avoided, as the controller, e.g. if co-ordinating with an other sector, will be more alerted by the emergency code than by a "text-only" message...

Cheers, ABD