Aircraft distress/emergency terms?

Question

i believe the term signifying the most severe emergency is "mayday", and "pan pan pan" is the second most severe, but my question is, is there a third one? is there a third term for, like, the third highest severity level?

also, are mayday and pan pan pan correct? or am i wrong?

and lastly, are there any other distess terms?

Answer 1

The French expression is "M'aidez,"  which simply means "Help me!"

Serious pilots have not used the expressions "Mayday" or "Pan, Pan, Pan" since the 1950s.  The current practice is to call the appropriate ATC facility or 121.5, identify yourself, and say "We have a problem" or whatever seems appropriate.

The more calm, professional, and descriptive you can be, the better.  If you stay calm, everybody else will, too.

Answer 2

i am disoriented.. hyjack  low fuel  heavy weather.

Answer 3

I wouldn't use any such terms. I'd get on the horn and tell somebody what's happening. Sounds neet on action movies though doesn't it?

Answer 4

Mayday and Pan are correct (although we hardly ever use Pan in the US).

Mayday comes from the French, which I'll apologize now for butchering; madaiz (or something like that) which means emergency.

When in doubt, plain english works too.  As is, "we'll declare and emergency at this time."