The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has issued a safety message on broadcasting MAYDAY and PAN PAN calls after an incident at Newcastle last December.
The Pelican Airways Jetstream 32 was on a regular public transport flight from Williamtown to Dubbo on 14 December when the crew experienced an engine not responding to power lever movement. The crew decided to return to Newcastle and Air Traffic Control instigated an alert phase. The aircraft landed with no further incident and with no injuries to the crew or six passengers.
However, the ATSB noted that the crew did not at any time make either a MAYDAY or PAN PAN call during the incident, which the pilot in command later agreed would have made the situation clearer.
"The captain reported that they had adequate time to assess the unresponsive power lever, evaluate the performance of the aircraft with only one engine operating and plan for the landing," the ATSB has reported. "The workload was not high as they were flying in visual meteorological conditions with adequate time and no other traffic.
"On reflection, the captain indicated that although the situation did not appear like an emergency making a PAN PAN call to the controller would have eliminated any uncertainty."
In the safety message issued with the investigation report, the ATSB highlighted the importance of making MAYDAY and PAN PAN calls as appropriate.
"It is important when time permits to broadcast a ‘pan’ or ‘mayday’, whichever is applicable, to air traffic control to alert the controller and remove any uncertainty about the severity of the situation. If controllers receive a ‘pan’ or ‘mayday’ broadcast, they will organise (depending on the situation) a priority landing to allow an aircraft that might have a problem to land as soon as possible.
"A situation that seems relatively innocuous can deteriorate quickly. Hesitating or not broadcasting the situation can result in help being delayed."
Airservices Australia defines the two levels of emergency notifications as:
- MAYDAY – My aircraft and its occupants are threatened by grave and imminent danger and/or I require immediate assistance
- PAN PAN – I have an urgent message to transmit concerning the safety of my aircraft or other vehicle, or of some person on board or within sight, but I do not require immediate assistance.
The full report into the Jetstream incident is on the ATSB website.