For starters, with a loss of the battery you lose all fire protection. A pilot I respect once told me, if it says Land at Nearest Airport you are probably an emergency.

 

The MD-11 flies really well on 2 good engines, but it doesn't fly worth crap with degraded or no electrics. That crew did exactly the right thing.

JJ

 

That's exactly right! Remember the days when pilots had to "build the airplane" to get a type rating? Nowadays, aircraft systems knowledge is lacking so when a QRH says, "Land at Nearest Suitable Airport", there is a reason for that!

 

[QUOTE=TurnAndBurn;1236324]Across the pond, "mayday" is used more loosely than in just the instances you describe. I know that some european carriers train their crews to call "mayday" on single engine out, loss of pressurization, and other 'routine' emergencies.

I cross regularly also. Trained in the US however. If a procedure calls for landing at the nearest suitable airport I would agree that you should indeed declare an emergency but PAN PAN would be the correct call unless disaster (ditching, off airport landing or uncontained fire etc) is imminent.

Wikipedia, for what its worth:
In radiotelephone communications, a call of three repetitions of pan-pan[1] ( /ˈpɑːn ˈpɑːn/)[2][3] is used to signify that there is an urgency on board a boat, ship, aircraft, or other vehicle but that, for the time being at least, there is no immediate danger to anyone's life or to the vessel itself.[4] This is referred to as a state of urgency. This is distinct from a Mayday call, which means that there is imminent danger to life or to the continued viability of the vessel itself.[5] Thus "pan-pan" informs potential rescuers (including emergency services and other craft in the area) that a safety problem exists whereas "Mayday" will call upon them to drop all other activities and immediately initiate a rescue attempt.

 

For those that have a FOM, Check the glossary.
Mayday - Distress Message. "Help Me."

Airframe and souls, all safe! It's easy to critique it at zero knots and one G, instead of being up all night, in the middle of nowhere...
If you got the stick shake it.....
I say Kudos!

Pakage

 

I'm guessing the crew didn't use the term "Mayday", the press did. Mayday and Pan are attention-getting phrases, and a simple declaration of an emergency usually suffices to get the desired response. in 38 years of military and civil flying, domestic and international, through LOTS of emergencies, I've never actually heard anyone use the term "Mayday"

"Houston, we have a problem" is more the norm.

 

If I'm in a true emergency, you bet I'm using it. That's what the book says. And foreign controllers may not catch the meaning of "roll the equipment."

ASA had an accident in '95 where the pilots were so relaxed on the radio (all they said was, "we've got to come back") that the controllers never realized the extent of the situation and put them on too long a vector to land in time.

 

Avianca 707 that ran out of fuel and crashed short of JFK may have made it had the crew been a bit more assertive about there problem on the radio too! By the time ATC were aware how severe the issue was it was too late.

 

Enroute to Bogota Columbia, just after leveling off at FL320, they got a Forward Cargo Smoke warning. Capt was flying and F/O handled the Red ECAM and checklist. They checked the FMS for the closest airport and found it was Valencia. The weather in Bogota was not very good and considering the terrain, they elected to return to Valencia. With the language barrier, it was difficult getting ATC to understand their declared emergency.
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The use of PAN PAN PAN and MAYDAY MAYDAY is correct in most international locations. Recent example of how the language barrier can bite you. Look at LIDO General Section under COMM page 60. Could not get it to copy correctly.
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Exactly...In this instance the Battery Bus is still powered (Fire DETECTION) but the Battery Direct Bus fails (Fire PROTECTION).

Worst case then is you get an engine fire indication but can't put it out.