Well, I can think of a couple. You are down, safely but crashed. You
pick up an airliner on 121.5. Ready to copy, he says. You say N48 34'
26". He says uh, could you give that to me in fssst %^^ north
---***$%^& copy )(*)_*. Last you hear of him.

Or you have to enter the waypoint manually on a ferry flight. The unit
wants it one way, you are used to another. End up entering it wrong.
You run out of fuel.

Or CAP flight is searching off of a waypoint in DD MM SS and it's been
given to them in DD. XXXX and they do the conversion wrong. Guy dies of
exposure just before they find him.

You get the idea.