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RT question - PAN call

What format does a PAN call have when it used to report a vessel in trouble?

As part of the RT practical exam, I understand there might be the need to make a PAN call to report a sinking ship. CAP 413 details the format for a normal MAYDAY/PAN call and a relayed MAYDAY, but not for reporting a vessel in trouble.

I don't think there is a real right or wrong. The important thing in the RT practical is to use the correct format for a PAN PAN PAN call. Be concise in the initial call, you can always provide more info later.

Pan-Pan, Pan-Pan, Pan-Pan
Name of station being addressed:
Callsign:
Type of aircraft:
Nature Of Emergency : Overhead a P&O passenger ferry which appears to be in distress
Intentions: Will circle overhead until otherwise advised
Position etc.

Pan-pan pan-pan pan-pan
(Calling station) London Centre, this is (Your call sign) Golf-Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta (prefix Tyrone, if AN inexperienced pilot)
R(est) eason - Have suffered engine failure
I(n) ntention - Intend Forced Landing
P(eace) osition - 3 miles south west Billy Bong Airfield
L(ouis) evel - Decending through 2000ft
H(oi) eading - Heading 300.

I also understood if you wanted to be really flash, you could add no persons on board, fuel status, Experience.

Standing by to be corrected (especially on the spelling and entimology of LH!)

If you have an engine failure, surely it's a MAYDAY?

Not much help if you don't mention the vessel though, bigfoot......

My vote goes to beatnik's post.

Always a good idea to make a short call with Pan-Pan etc & callsign then....pause.... and wait for an acknowledgement. Appreciate you may be having a bad time up there but you might have caught us in the middle of doing something else and I hate asking emergencies to 'say again'.:(

That said, last months RT exchange was way too brief!

AC "Mayday C/S engine failure going down":{
ATC "Roger S/W is!"

Thanks for all your replies.

I think beatnik has provided the answer I was looking for.

Regards Nottpfr.

Quote:

NOT ACCORDING TO THE BOOK The whole purpose of doing these things correctly is so that in an Emergency or Urgency situation you do it automatically and correct. On hearing a PAN call, you stop doing something else because the PAN has priority over everything except a MAYDAY!

Quote:

a) ‘MAYDAY/MAYDAY/MAYDAY’ (or ‘PAN PAN/PAN PAN/PAN PAN’);
b) Name of the station addressed (when appropriate and time and circumstances permitting);
c) Callsign;
d) Type of aircraft;
e) Nature of the emergency;
f) Intention of the person-in-command;
g) Present or last known position, flight level/altitude and heading;
h) Pilot qualifications, Not ICAO requirement!
i) Any other useful information e.g. endurance remaining, number of people on board
(POB) etc.

e) Ship in distress
f) Intention to orbit ship
i) Endurance i.e I can orbit for an hour
everything else is standard

Quote:

Quote:
Always a good idea to make a short call with Pan-Pan etc & callsign then....pause.... and wait for an acknowledgement. Appreciate you may be having a bad time up there but you might have caught us in the middle of doing something else and I hate asking emergencies to 'say again'.

NOT ACCORDING TO THE BOOK The whole purpose of doing these things correctly is so that in an Emergency or Urgency situation you do it automatically and correct. On hearing a PAN call, you stop doing something else because the PAN has priority over everything except a MAYDAY!

Quote:
a) ‘MAYDAY/MAYDAY/MAYDAY’ (or ‘PAN PAN/PAN PAN/PAN PAN’);
b) Name of the station addressed (when appropriate and time and circumstances permitting);
c) Callsign;
d) Type of aircraft;
e) Nature of the emergency;
f) Intention of the person-in-command;
g) Present or last known position, flight level/altitude and heading;
h) Pilot qualifications, Not ICAO requirement!
i) Any other useful information e.g. endurance remaining, number of people on board
(POB) etc.

e) Ship in distress
f) Intention to orbit ship
i) Endurance i.e I can orbit for an hour
everything else is standard

Thanks Whopity for that quote although conveniently you missed this bit....

Quote:

The message will contain as many as possible of the following items:

So you can pass them in whatever order you like, whenever you like so long as you pass the pertinent info.
Of course - if you are already in 2-way communication with a unit they will have most of it already so it can be disregarded and if an emergency occurs all you need to do is state the type of emergency together with your callsign.

At our unit we operate solo for the last 4 hours of the day and if I need a natural break (with poratable radio) the only paper I will have to hand to log your details if you call PAN at that time will be the stuff on a roll to my right!!:eek:

Personally I prefer to use the rules with a healthy dose of common sense rather than blind adherence.:ok:

But when it comes to emergencies - there are so many variables you rarely get one that is standard.

Quote:

One additional thing you might consider doing in this scenario is to active your ELT to give your exact position

Far better is the contact with D&D whose DF equipment is excellent especially if you are at a reasonable height (have a look at their leaflet which they provide free of charge). Follow D&D's instructions THEY are the experts in this field and behind the controller to whom you will be talking, have a great team of workers to cope with all the other work involved with an incident and lots of resources at their fingertips.

Quote:

One additional thing you might consider doing in this scenario is to active your ELT to give your exact position.

Same applies with an engine failure - manually activate your ELT sooner rather than later. That way they are on their way before you even hit the ground.

All assuming you have an onboard ELT of course (which we in the US have!)

Just remember that if you have an ELT that transmits on 121.5 (exclusively or in addition to 406 MHz), it will make communications at 121.5 virtually impossible. So if your emergency is being handled on 121.5 you will want to delay switching it on to the last possible moment. And you might want to advise ATC about it: "Off comms, switching on ELT" or something like that.

Are ELT's that block 121.5 allowed ? Makes the assumption that no-one else wants to use the frequency doesn't it ? (I'm thinking in terms of two emergencies at the same time).

Quote:

So you can pass them in whatever order you like, whenever you like so long as you pass the pertinent info.

RTF Examiners have always required the call to be made in the stated order. I recall the old RTF Written exam where you had to write out the full Distress Message and you lost marks for getting anything wrong including the "wrong" order.

Whilst I agree that at the end of the day the order is not that important, it is basically a Check List and remembering it in the given order aids passing all of the required information when you mind is on other things. The first sign of stress is the wrong words coming out of the mouth.

Having previously worked in D&D, I'd suggest the following.

Beatnik's offering is the pick of the bunch, although ATCO Fred's suggestion of the pause, having said PAN PAN PAN [c/s] PAN, is a very good idea. The ATCOs will end up missing things if you splurge it all out in a one-er.

I would not suggest activating your ELT. If you're high enough to talk to D&D they can auto-triangulate your position +/- a few miles instantly. An ELT may confuse the issue at the ARCC who would detect it's transmissions through SARSAT/COSPAS and could potentially block 121.5MHz also, causing you problems in speaking to London Centre.

Yes the order is not that important, especially in the example offerred when you'd be making git up on the hoof anyway; however, the "order" ensures that you give all the info and don't have to be asked multiple questions afterwards to get the rest of the info. Other info like POB and endurance remaining are fairly essential, although I wouldn't worry about the latter with an engine failure in a single-engine :ok: