Originally Posted by
haihio
how do you do a standard military mayday call? Do you transmit three times mayday followed by three times the aircraft call sign and other info?
I think there is a slight difference from the civilian way of transmitting a mayday call - that is that aircraft call sign is only transmitted once.
Can you please confirm this ?
It has been RAF policy to use CAP 413 phraseology for a few years now:
From CAP 413:
Emergency Message
8.13 The emergency message shall contain the following information (time
and circumstance permitting) and, whenever possible, should be passed
in the order given:
1. ‘MAYDAY/MAYDAY/MAYDAY’ (or ‘PAN PAN/PAN PAN/PAN PAN’);
2. Name of the station addressed (when appropriate and time and
circumstances permitting);
3. Callsign;
4. Type of aircraft;
5. Nature of the emergency;
6. Intention of the person-in-command;
7. Present or last known position, flight level/altitude and heading;
8. Pilot qualifications (See Note 1), viz:
a) Student pilots (see Notes 2 and 3);
b) No Instrument Qualification;
c) IMC Rating;
d) Full Instrument Rating.
9. Any other useful information e.g. endurance remaining, number of
people on board (POB), aircraft colour/markings, any survival aids.
Notes:
5 Emergency messages by military pilots are different and are detailed
in ATM 3000 Manual of Military Air Traffic Management.
However, neither ATM 3000 nor MMATM give specific phraseology:
From MMATM, Chapter 4:
73. Action by the Pilot. The pilot is required to carry out the following actions:
a. Make a distress call as soon as possible and squawk emergency. The
call will include Air System type, altitude/height and position.
b. Advise ATC of initial intentions and request any assistance immediately
required such as determining position, heading to location of nearest suitable
Aerodrome or heading to reach nearest land.
c. Generally advise ATC of the progress of the recovery.
d. Advise ATC of any change in intentions.
AP 3456 CFS Manual of Flying says:
Emergency Transmissions
3. A transmission to be made in an emergency consists of two parts: the emergency call and the emergency message.
a. Emergency Call. Table 1 sets out the content of the radio telephony (R/T) Urgency and Distress calls.
Table 1 Emergency Calls
Degree of Emergency
Proword (R/T)
Distress
Urgency
"Mayday – Mayday – Mayday" Aircraft callsign (3 times)
"Pan Pan – Pan Pan – Pan Pan " Aircraft callsign (once)
b. Emergency Message. The emergency message should include as much of the following information as is relevant and as time permits:
(1) Callsign.
(2) Type of aircraft.
(3) Nature of emergency.
(4) Captain’s intentions and assistance required.
(5) Present or last known position, flight level/altitude and heading.
(6) Pilot qualifications (if relevant e.g. Student Pilot/Instrument Rating etc).
(7) Any other useful information (e.g. persons on board/endurance/aircraft colour etc).
In practice, I have received as an ATCO (and was taught as baby pilot) "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, callsign, Mayday" (pause for acknowledgement) "PATHASATNI (position and time, heading and speed, aircraft type, nature of emergency, captain's intentions)."