Pan call
 

Sorry people,but as a humble ground engineer,why is a 'pan' called a pan?

I believe it can all be blamed on our dear gallic cousins:

Mayday = M'aider
Pan = en panne

Why one means distress and the other 'urgency' je ne sais pas.

Wouldn't that be M'aidez - being in the imperative form?


:8

I have it on good authority that it's something of an old RAF term, something to do with indicating a landing that's as flat as a pancake. I'll ask him again, then edit this post later.

Bodie

Bodie - how come I'm not surprised the RAF is trying to hijack some internationally recognised French aviation terminology?

The correct form is surely "m'aider" in the infinitive - as in TO help me. The PAN call refers to "panne", meaning breakdown.
The difference is in the level of urgency - a PAN (which should always be said three times, just like MAYDAY) meaning that the aircraft is in no immediate danger.

P.S.: yes, French is my native language!

Bodie.. Hope you are circumspect with other bon mots your "good authority" may proffer!!

The distress call by radio telephone is the two words "MAY DAY." This corresponds to the French pronunciation for "m'aider", which means "help me." On voice, the "XXX" (urgent) equivalent is the word "PAN." This corresponds to the French pronunciation for "panne", which means "mishap" or "accident." The "TTT" (safety) equivalent is "SECURITY." This corresponds to the French pronunciation for "sécurité", which means "safety." The calling frequency for voice was 2182 kilohertz.

Thought I'd get that in before Cornish Jack did:p

FougaMagister,

Just to set the record straight and keep it technically correct, 'Pan' is actually said 6 times (Pan-Pan, pan-pan, pan-pan) if you are broadcasting an urgency message. I believe it was changed to keep it in line with Mayday so there are 6 syllables in any distress call. At least that's what's in CAP 413.

Safe flying,

PJ

I asked the missus and she said It would be m'aider, not m'aidez so I go that wrong, but she also said that grammatically it was a little incorrect and the phrase "Help me" would really translate to "Aidez moi". The term "m'aider" would be part of a larger sentence such as "Il va m'aider" meaning "He is going to help me".

How does she know this? The same way that she knows everything else on the planet (apart from computers of course).

BTW, I failed o level French so I'm ready for the corrections and will gladly stay behind after school.
:}

So do you have to say it three times? :=

PilotPJ: you're 100% right - that's actually what I meant, but it looks like I can't count properly... doh!

Onan, your mrs. is also right - grammaticaly, it always looked a bit strange to me, but there's only so much I'm ready to question in aviation...

Cheers.

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