>How can an incident require turning back immediately (and requesting a specific runway!), but not require declaring an emergency? Dinking a wingtip is not an

>How can an incident require turning back immediately (and requesting a specific runway!), but not require declaring an emergency? Dinking a wingtip is not an emergency. The damage looks alarming, but it's nowhere near anything vital. You want to get on the ground ASAP simply as a precaution, but you've still got full control of the aircraft and the capacity to land normally. Blowing a tire is definitely an emergency, because your landing could go catastrophically wrong. You need to declare an emergency, because you may need a major response on the ground.