Twice I have had to declare an emergency. Once because the telephone rang and today because it was time for supper. However, I have noticed two anomalies. The first being that I am not given a choice of airfields. In my first emergency I was routed to a small airstrip with no facilities, no lighting and a rwy far too short for a VC10. In the second I was told to turn left 345 and head for LFPY where in fact it would have been better to head for LFPG. Also ATC told me to descend to 2,000 feet and then asked me to "Request IFR for FL40". I discussed this with my co-pilot and he did not seem to know the correct response. Nor could I find one in PFE Display. It did seem rather contradictory and ATC were not very helpful. Have a look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTyv8f-_8Mw.
I elected to head for LFPG unnanounced. Fortunately there was no conflicting traffic. In an emergency I need to choose the airport and ATC need to be with me all the way (as per the video).
Vololiberista