Securité Securité Securité

[Tino]

is the priority call "Securité securité securité" used in aviation?
In shipping it means a safety announcement with no immediate and personal danger, like:
securité securité securité all stations: containers adrift 3NM out of Brest.
Do pilots use this term or have they ever used it???

[CrashDive]

Another little know fact (I believe) is that there are actually three level of urgency message, namely: Securité, Pan, and of course Mayday.

As well as marine usage, all three can also be used for aviation purposes - although I'd hazard a guess that if you used 'Securité' you'd subsequently flood the airways with questions as to what it means (which you've nicely described above).

Another little known fact is that, just like declaring a Pan and then upgrading to a Mayday, you can go the other way too, i.e. you can declare a Mayday and then downgrade it to whatever level you see as appropriate.

Also any other station (air or ground based) can declare any of the above on behalf of a third party, i.e. I see you ditch in mountainous seas, and decalre a Mayday for you.

Of course if I've got any of this wrong, then please do correct me accordingly.

[Tinstaafl]

I seem to recall in Oz that if you observe another a/c that you suspect is in trouble you should declare it as a 'Pan'.

Can't remember for the life of me where I remember that from! Might just be my imperfect memory.

I'm willing to test the theory that if you supply me with Guinness my memory improves...

[Gentleman Aviator]

I knew that I had posted on this subject before and have found the following reply that I made:

Distress:
"A condition of being threatened by serious and/or imminent danger and of requiring immediate assistance"
Urgency:
"A condition concerning the safety of an aircraft or other vehicle, or some person on board or in sight, but which does not require immediate assistance"

Emergency Call:
The emergency call is one of the following:

Distress: Mayday, Mayday, Mayday

Urgency: Pan Pan, Pan Pan, Pan Pan

(ICAO Annex 10)

So Pan Pan is not such a bad idea if you have a snag that requires some priority but not immediate concrete. Not a lot of use though if ATC or fellow pilots aren't familiar.

International rules accept a Safety message (prefix "Securite" spoken three times (RT) or "TTT,TTT,TTT" (WT).
This is not an emergency message , but indicates a "message concerning the safety of navigation or giving important meteorological warnings"
Note: ICAO does not recognise the prefix "Securite" nor "TTT, TTT, TTT"

GA

:)

[incubus]

Crashdive:
I've recently re-done the PPL RT course/exam and go purely by the little blue bible (CAP413), but do remember the chap teaching us saying that a distress call pertained only to the calling aircraft - you cannot initiate a mayday for someone else. You can call a Pan for them and you can relay their mayday.

[A Very Civil Pilot]

I seem to remember from doing the CPL's in NZ, that there were different levels of emergency you could declare over the telephone to get a priority call put through. The only one that I can remember is a 'Flash' priority. Perhaps it dates back to the days of when you needed the operator to connect yor call (ie last year in NZ ;) )

[redsnail]

When I used to fly around the NW Australian coastline every now and then on a FS frequency a "securite" message would be broadcast. It usually pertained to the live firing areas that the Navy used. Naturally, I avoided those areas. These areas were away from the usual traffic areas and on the open water. (naturally, being the navy)

------------------
reddo...feral animal!

[ComJam]

The "Security, Security, Security" call is used by both London and Scottish ATCCs at the start of a Temporary Danger Area (or similar) anouncement on 243 and 121.5.

It get's the attention but I hadn't realised it's origin before.