When Things Go Wrong

It should be obvious that we never say the words, Declare, Emergency, Mayday, or Pan-Pan unless we indeed have a dire situation. These words have the potential to flip a controllers airspace upside down faster than a Vmc roll, so they should be used with discretion. Even saying Declare by itself could lead us to believe that assistance is needed, as well as Pan-Pan (Urgent condition). Because Pan-Pan is considered an urgent condition (maybe not a full-blown emergency), it has the potential to turn into Mayday (Distress) so we mostly treat it as such.

Elim Hawkins

Wednesday, September 25, 2019 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

ATC's primary role in an emergency is to communicate with the pilot to understand their needs, then navigate other aircraft out of the way, and finally guide the distressed aircraft to a safe landing, prioritizing communication and assistance over the pilot's initial "aviate, navigate, communicate."
Specific trigger words like "Mayday" or "Pan-Pan," or even just clearly stating a problem, immediately activate ATC's full resources to "meet the needs of the emergency," including checklists, coordination with other facilities, and moving conflicting traffic.
Pilots are strongly encouraged to communicate any difficulties to ATC without hesitation, as ATC is dedicated to providing comprehensive aid, can declare emergencies on the pilot's behalf, and sees it as a collective effort in flight safety, often without requiring extensive paperwork.

See a mistake? Contact us.

Every single emergency procedure you can imagine should follow the basic outline of “aviate, navigate, communicate” on the pilot’s side of things, but what does ATC do? It’s actually kind of backwards. We communicate with you first to find out what you might need, then we navigate other conflicting airplanes out of your way so that you can aviate to a safe runway or landing site.

It should be obvious that we never say the words, “Declare,” “Emergency,” “Mayday,” or “Pan-Pan” unless we indeed have a dire situation. These words have the potential to flip a controller’s airspace upside down faster than a Vmc roll, so they should be used with discretion. Even saying “Declare” by itself could lead us to believe that assistance is needed, as well as “Pan-Pan” (Urgent condition). Because Pan-Pan is considered an urgent condition (maybe not a full-blown emergency), it has the potential to turn into “Mayday” (Distress) so we mostly treat it as such.