A United Airlines flight traveling from Washington Dulles International Airport made an emergency landing last month after the pilot declared a mayday call shortly after takeoff due to suspected engine failure.
United flight 108, bound for Munich, Germany, was forced to return to Dulles on July 25 “to address a mechanical issue,” the airline told CNN.
The plane, a Boeing 787, was carrying 219 passengers and 11 crew members, the airline said.
Minutes into its ascent and at nearly 5,000 feet, the pilot told air traffic control, “Engine failure, left engine, United 108 declaring an emergency. Mayday, mayday, mayday,” according to recorded air traffic control audio.
An air traffic controller asked the pilot, “Are you able to make your way back to the field at this time” by turning right. “There’s nobody between you and the field,” the controller said.
Mayday is immediate assistance required. Reserved for things that place the aircraft in jeopardy, like fire, engine failure, explosive decompression, etc.
Pan Pan is for less serious things like maybe a single system failure, a pressurization problem, things that are not time critical.
Gotcha. So both are declaring an emergency but with different urgency
The words are “attention getters”. They don’t by default declare an emergency. They basically tell people on the frequency to stfu and listen, especially ATC. As you can see in the transcribed statement by the pilot, s/he specifically declared an emergency.