Engine Failure — PAN & Forced Landing
advancedUK phraseologyA rough-running, partial engine failure over open country. Judge PAN vs MAYDAY by severity, pass the full urgency message in the correct order, and accept squawk 7700. Learn the CAP 413 distress-message sequence and why a partial power loss is an urgency (PAN), not a distress (MAYDAY), call.
Briefing
You are cruising at 2000 feet in Cessna 172 Golf Alpha Sierra Kilo Yankee, working London Information on 124.600. The engine begins running rough and losing power — you still have partial power and full control, and you elect to make a precautionary landing in a field. This is an urgency situation: transmit a PAN call.
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- Exchange 1
Declare the urgency and pass the first part of the distress message: prefix, station, your callsign and type, and the nature of the problem.
💡 A partial power loss with control retained is an URGENCY — "PAN PAN" ×3. Reserve "MAYDAY" ×3 for grave and imminent danger (e.g. a total engine failure committing you to an off-field landing). Open with prefix, station, callsign, type, then nature.
- Exchange 2
Continue the message: your intentions and your position, level and heading.
💡 Intentions before position: tell the controller what you are going to do, then WHERE you are, your level and heading, so they can find you and warn other traffic.
- Exchange 3
Complete the distress message: persons on board and endurance.
💡 Persons on board and fuel/endurance come last in the distress message. Endurance is stated in MINUTES so rescue services know your time in the air.
- Exchange 4
ATC: “Golf Alpha Sierra Kilo Yankee, London Information, roger your PAN, squawk seven seven zero zero.”
Read back the squawk. This is a mandatory readback.
💡 7700 is the emergency/distress squawk (7600 = radio failure, 7500 = unlawful interference). Read the code back in full — "Roger" is not a readback of a squawk.
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