Why Do We Say MAYDAY in an Emergency? (Origins of Mayday Explained)

The pilot's voice crackles of the radio, screaming "MAYDAY"! A Mayday call is a real emergency and has very specific protocols for when to be called out on the radio, and air traffic control must jump into emergency protocols as well! But what does Mayday really mean and when can you scream it? Check out today's new video where we fill you in on this famous emergency call that you've heard before but never knew what it really meant until now!

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[user-kv]

“A gorgeous sunny day in May” *Southern Hemisphere scratches their head*

[sophiedenise]

Plane: is about to crash
Captain: MAYDAY! MAYDAY!
First Officer: But sir, it's June, evening

[maxine]

“mayday” sounds like a holiday 6 year old me would make during the first day of may

[lichwood]

If someone prank calls a Mayday, maybe they should be forcibly placed in an emergency situation and start hoping no one else prank calls while they're struggling for life.

[FirestormX]

Just a week or so ago Infographics Show was asking for suggestions and topics for videos. Glad they found some!

[thegermansturmmann]

“This is hotel 91 we are going down in sector bravo tango 7 niner mayday mayday”

[Admiral-]

4:41 Polish Office of Civil Aviation (ULC) proposes this format:
- _Mayday, Mayday, Mayday_
- 3x name of Station addressing (however this part is rarely obeyed in practice - one time, with nickname of station is enough)
- position
- what happened
- pilot's intentions

Basically, in case of emergency, there's no time to waste on long corespodention. Pilot must be focused on flying and taking care of problem, not on what he must say right now. Simple rule: Aviate, Navigate, Communicate. The order is not random
8:28
7700 is a general signal for a major failure, but there's also 7600 - for radio failure.

[justastaythatwillnotbename]

I genuinely had this question my head for 2 years

[Prismet]

Same with Pirates asking to "Parlay" - comes from "Parler" in French. Just another French "victory". 2:33

[kevindavis]

On another note, airplanes will usually transmit the distress calls on 121.5 MHz. This is the global emergency frequency that all aircraft are expected to listen out for.

[heroyt]

i knew the infographics was going to cover this some day

[sukorei]

watching this at 03:58am before sleeping like always

[theangrylizard]

0:56 You can tell an American made this. The French phrase "m'aidez" is pronounced exactly as "mayday" is in English, except there's a stress on the second syllable.

[evjcuov]

Me when I can't think up something to type in the comment section: MAYDAY

[kevindavis]

Finally, if I pilot has trouble with radios, they can input 7600 to indicate to ATC that they have a radio failure, and cannot communicate verbally. The memory aid for this is “76, get my radio fixed.”

[Dantesure]

Thanks infographics. No joke, I was wondering this last night.

[fluffyflextail]

So, MayDay and SOS have been covered for flight and see travel. How about covering " Houston, we have a problem" and space travel in a future episode?

[Aviation]

Mayday mayday: that’s something we haven’t hear in our live
Avgeeks listening to ATC and black boxes to find out what happened to the plane before it crashed

[JackalX]

Firefighters are the only other group outside of air & naval activities allowed to call a MAYDAY on a radio without the FCC going after them. 🙃

[gerrecksrationreviews]

In the fire department we are taught to use MAYDAY if we are in trouble with our last known location, out health, amount of oxygen in out cylinders and what we feel needs to be done to get us out