What Does Mayday Mean?

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! It's the call that no airplane pilot or ship's captain ever wants to have to make. Why? Because it means trouble. Big trouble!

Mayday is the word used around the world to make a distress call via radio communications. Mayday signals a life-threatening emergency, usually on a ship or a plane, although it may be used in a variety of other situations.

Procedure calls for the mayday distress signal to be said three times in a row — Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! — so that it won't be mistaken for another word or phrase that sounds similar under noisy conditions. A typical distress call will start with mayday repeated three times, followed by all the relevant information that potential rescuers would need, including type and identity of craft involved, nature of the emergency, location or last known location, current weather, fuel remaining, what type of help is needed and number of people in danger.

Mayday got its start as an international distress call in 1923. It was made official in 1948. It was the idea of Frederick Mockford, who was a senior radio officer at Croydon Airport in London. He came up with the idea for “mayday" because it sounded like the French word m'aider, which means “help me."

Sometimes a mayday distress call is sent by one vessel on behalf of another vessel in danger. This is known as a mayday relay. A mayday relay is sometimes necessary if the vessel in danger loses radio communications. If a mayday call is repeated and not acknowledged, another vessel hearing the call may attempt to relay it again and again until help is reached.

A mayday call is not something to be taken lightly. In the United States, it's illegal to make a fake distress call. Doing so can land you in jail for up to six years and subject you to a $250,000 fine!


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[The Monk]

.... and then there is:-

May Day is a public holiday usually celebrated on May 1. It is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival. It is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures. Dances, singing, and cake are usually part of the celebrations that the day includes.

In the late 19th century, May Day was chosen as the date for International Workers' Day by the Socialists and Communists of the Second International to commemorate the Haymarket affair in Chicago. International Workers' Day may also be referred to as "May Day", but it is a different celebration from the traditional May Day.

[Noilly Pratt]

I was told when taking a course on VHF radio that "MayDay" was usually intelligible even on the crackliest far-away signals, easiest to say if you're partially incapacitated and easy to remember for non-English speakers.

[DemonGeminiX]