Experienced pilots don't mind calling mayday, but:
1) Often ATC will ask you a lot of distracting questions. It starts with what the problem is and how many souls are on board, but can be lengthy and doesn't solve your problem.
If you listen to the Sully Hudson flight, you can hear how terse Sully is to avoid a conversation with ATC while he's busy flying.
2) You may be asked for a written letter afterwards, or an investigation may start. Your airline would be interested.
3) ATC is not responsible for your plane, and cannot fly it for you. Most ATC don't even have an airplane rating.
Pilots have a "get out of jail free card" by filing a NASA report for non-intentional violations. You can search that database.
I filed one once when I was flying an old rental with sketchy navigation equipment into Class B just in case the gauges were out of tolerance.
1) Often ATC will ask you a lot of distracting questions. It starts with what the problem is and how many souls are on board, but can be lengthy and doesn't solve your problem.
If you listen to the Sully Hudson flight, you can hear how terse Sully is to avoid a conversation with ATC while he's busy flying.
2) You may be asked for a written letter afterwards, or an investigation may start. Your airline would be interested.
3) ATC is not responsible for your plane, and cannot fly it for you. Most ATC don't even have an airplane rating.
Pilots have a "get out of jail free card" by filing a NASA report for non-intentional violations. You can search that database.
I filed one once when I was flying an old rental with sketchy navigation equipment into Class B just in case the gauges were out of tolerance.
Source: commerically-rated pilot.