Mayday and pan-pan
Also: mayday, pan-pan, distress call, declaring an emergency
Standard radio calls for declaring an emergency: ‘mayday’ signals grave or imminent danger, ‘pan-pan’ an urgent situation that needs no immediate help.
What it is
These are the two emergency calls of international radiotelephony, each repeated three times at the start of the message so there can be no doubt. ‘Mayday’ is the distress signal: the aircraft or its occupants are in grave or imminent danger and need immediate assistance, for example because of an engine fire or a decompression. ‘Pan-pan’ is the urgency signal: something affects safety but there is no immediate danger, such as a passenger falling ill or a fault that makes an early landing sensible.
Both come from French: ‘mayday’ is linked to m’aider (‘help me’) and ‘pan-pan’ to panne (‘breakdown’). On hearing them, controllers give the aircraft priority, clear its route, offer the most suitable airport and alert the emergency services. The crew can reinforce the call by setting transponder code 7700, which highlights the aircraft on radar screens.
Declaring an emergency does not mean the flight is going to end badly; it is a tool for securing priority and resources, and it is used judiciously. ICAO, for instance, requires the captain to declare ‘mayday fuel’ when the aircraft is expected to land with less than its final reserve fuel.
Related terms
Cite
To cite this page in academic work, an article or Wikipedia, choose the style and copy the reference. The access date is today.
This page was last updated on October 9, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 9). Mayday and pan-pan. Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/mayday-and-pan-pan
MLA
“Mayday and pan-pan.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 9 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/mayday-and-pan-pan. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “Mayday and pan-pan.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 9, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/mayday-and-pan-pan.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) Mayday and pan-pan. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/mayday-and-pan-pan (Accessed: 16 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_glossary_mayday_and_pan_pan,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{Mayday and pan-pan}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-09},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/mayday-and-pan-pan},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/mayday-and-pan-pan}},
urldate = {2026-10-16},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/mayday-and-pan-pan |title=Mayday and pan-pan |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-09 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}