What do pilots say when an engine fails?

Announcing the problem - the crew will communicate the problem to ATC. Emergency communication protocols (MAYDAY or PAN PAN) should be used but non-standard phraseology (“We've lost No. 2”, “Engine No. 2 is gone/dead”, “We've got no thrust/power in No.



People Also Ask

Announcing the problem - the crew will communicate the problem to ATC. Emergency communication protocols (MAYDAY or PAN PAN) should be used but non-standard phraseology (“We've lost No. 2”, “Engine No. 2 is gone/dead”, “We've got no thrust/power in No.

MORE DETAILS

Pilots Have Their Own Secret Language. Here's What They're Really Saying
  • “Let's kick the tires and light the fires” ...
  • “Feet wet” ...
  • “We've got a deadhead crew flying to Chicago” ...
  • “There's a pilot in the jumpseat” ...
  • “It's 17:00 Zulu time” ...
  • “George is flying the plane now” ...
  • “We're flying through an air pocket”


MORE DETAILS

“Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.”

MORE DETAILS

Once the crew completes the pre-flight gear inspection, it's time to ignite the engine and take to the sky. These days however, it's much more common to hear pilots announce that the plane is “cleared for takeoff” — particularly on commercial flights — for the sake of brevity.

MORE DETAILS

The number of “souls” on an aircraft refers to the total living bodies on the plane: every passenger, pilot, flight attendant and crew member, according to Lord-Jones. Pilots often report the number of “souls” when declaring an emergency, she says, so rescuers know the amount of people to search for.

MORE DETAILS

The first thing to bear in mind is that aeroplanes are not stones; they all have wings that allow them to glide in the event of engine failure. In fact, each aircraft has an associated glide ratio: an index that relates the metres an aircraft advances for every metre of altitude it loses in gliding.

MORE DETAILS

The callout from the pilots like LOC blue serves to remind themselves of the current flight guidance modes, and to maintain awareness of mode changes. This is also to ensure that their mental idea of what the aircraft will do next is up to date and fits to the current flight situation.

MORE DETAILS

The word heavy means a larger aircraft type, with a Maximum Takeoff Weight of 160 tonnes or more. These aircraft create wake turbulence from their wings and require extra separation between following aircraft, and the use of heavy reminds other pilots of that fact.

MORE DETAILS

Air traffic control units use the term squawk when they are assigning an aircraft a transponder code, e.g., Squawk 7421. Squawk thus can be said to mean select transponder code or squawking xxxx to mean I have selected transponder code xxxx.

MORE DETAILS

Owing to the difficulty of distinguishing the letter “S” by telephone, the international distress signal “S.O.S.” will give place to the words “May-day”, the phonetic equivalent of “M'aidez”, the French for “Help me.”

MORE DETAILS

The term 'Mayday' originates from the French phrase 'm'aider' which means 'help me'. It was first adopted as a distress signal for aviation in the early 1920s. The credit for its implementation goes to Frederick Stanley Mockford, a senior radio officer at London's Croydon Airport.

MORE DETAILS