It has been said that the most painful accident is one that could have been prevented. That holds particularly true in aviation when a pilot’s failure to identify risk leads to a lack of situational awareness and poor decision making resulting in a fatality. This becomes obvious when you read the reports generated by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)—you see the pilot’s actions and find yourself wondering, “Why didn’t the pilot declare an emergency and get priority handling from ATC?”
While declaring does not guarantee a way out of a bad situation, it can connect a pilot with more resources such as air traffic control, which because of the nature of the job may have a better grasp of the options available.
