“The MAYDAY MAYDAY thing is the stuff of movies. “
Indeed. All ATC can do for you is send a post-card to your wife. . .does just as much good.
“Those of us who have flown a lot of hours are amazed at how calm crew members driving big iron sound in declaring an emergency.”
Lot of hours. . .how many and type? I’ve had my share of IFE’s in the A-10 and the F-15E, no biggee, that is why we practice and know the systems. Besides, gotta sound calm on the radios because you want your last worlds to sound cool, not panicky like a little girl.
Min were not nearly as exciting as yours.
10,000 hours business aviation, light twin,.
Retired quite a few years ago.