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Come Help Me
Mayday, Mayday, Mayday Why the alliteration?
6−1−1. Pilot Responsibility and Authority
In an emergency requiring immediate action, the pilot-in-command may deviate from any rule in 14 CFR Part 91, Subpart A, General, and Subpart B, Flight Rules, to the extent required to meet that emergency.
The plan of this pontificating, but penitent, professional pilot was to pen this “mayday” story for the May issue of T &T rather than June. It certainly would have better aligned with the Spring holi- day and said author’s sometimes playful panache. But due to requests from billions and billions (thus spoke Carl Sagan (and Zarathustra – Nietzsche)) of enquiring minds, last month’s article, “Max Mania” about the B-737 MCAS, prompted traffic priority at the publisher and is the reason for this month-mixing-mayhem.
And now, like the 737 Max, misbehav- ing AOA sensors have invaded GA and precipitated the grounding of yet another entire fleet: The Cirrus Vision Jet. May’s MCAS article and the priority it was given at the press seems to have prophetically provided a plausible prologue for a story about requesting traffic priority if our own plane presents us with a pickle of a problem. “Mayday, mayday, mayday” is itself an alliteration-like three-peat (the reason for which will follow), and thus perfectly personifies this Nietzsche referencing, alliteration polluted, prepa- ratory paragraph.
ICAO’s Warm Beer
The mayday procedural word was originated in 1923 by a senior radio officer in London. He proposed the expres- sion “mayday” from the French “m’aider” (help me). It’s now used to signal an emergency by aviators, mariners and in some countries firefighters, police and
transportation companies. The call is given three times in a row to prevent it from being mistaken for similar-sound- ing phrases and to distinguish an ac- tual mayday call from a message about a mayday call – and thus the alliteration three-peat. In 1927, mayday replaced SOS as the standard distress call. Commonly used worldwide for years, it’s only now beginning in the U.S. to replace our tra- ditional aviation-radio transmission of “we are declaring an emergency.”
Was the delay because of our well- known, pilot-cowboy mentality of buck- ing all things involuntarily imposed or foreign: the metric system, warm beer, driving on the wrong side of the road and unshaven armpits? Or perhaps be- cause most inf light emergencies that prompt our distress are not normally the stereotypical Hollywood type, “Cap’n it’s the dilithium crystals’ – we’re goin’ down!” type of an emergency. Our situ- ation may only require expedited traffic priority or special services after landing such as ARFF, an ambulance or cold beer and a pink plastic razor. Our conster- nation over ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) terminology – line up and wait vs. position and hold, mil- libars vs. inches of mercury and mayday instead of emergency, for example, will likely be a battle against our rebellious nature and the movie stereotype mayday call to which we’ve all grown accustomed.
It Sounds Dire
As you know, the dial-a-disaster chamber never operates in day VMC, with both engines producing thrust and all flight controls operating normally. Each takeoff, approach and landing will include all the standard weather phe- nomenon and system emergencies plus runaway trim, full stalls and even cold crew meals – have you ever seen such cruelty? (Blazing Saddles).
During the most recent cycle of simula- tor training at my carrier, we transitioned to using mayday instead of declaring an emergency. And when we used mayday in the sim for each and every one of the above situations, it did indeed make them sound direr than “simply” declaring an emergency. After transmitting “mayday, mayday, mayday,” it’s difficult to keep our Hollywood trained mind from hear- ing screaming passengers and the hero yelling, “We’re goin’ down!” But picture if you will (in my Rod Serling voice), a routine inflight medical emergency with the need for traffic priority, a diversion and ARFF after landing. I’ve had about a half-dozen of these in real life, in both Part 121 and 91, and a few more in the dark and scary sim. In each of them, I declared an emergency, and in each, the person in need of medical attention survived – except the ones in the sim – no one gets out of there unscathed. After transmitting mayday, mayday, mayday so many times, it became more comfort- able, but we found that adding the “E” word along with mayday made it feel less catastrophic.
An Example Mayday/ Emergency Call
Make the initial call on the frequency in use, but if not possible, squawk 7700
From the Flight Deck
by Kevin R. Dingman
28 • TWIN & TURBINE / June 2019