A rough-running engine near Abbotsford (CYXX)
Practises the urgency call most pilots never rehearse: recognising that a rough-running engine is a Pan Pan rather than a Mayday, giving ATC the situation, position, request, intentions and persons on board in one transmission, and updating the unit once safely on the ground (NAV CANADA VFR Phraseology guide, Emergency Communications and Pan Pan, p. 46).
The situation
You are the pilot of C-GABC, a Cessna 172, returning from the practice area with your instructor when the engine begins running rough. It is still producing power and the aeroplane is flying, but something is clearly wrong, and you want to be on the ground at the nearest good runway. Abbotsford has the longest one and emergency services. This is not a Mayday, but it is not nothing. Call Abbotsford Tower.
Practise this call →Sources
- NAV CANADA VFR Phraseology guide (v3, April 2022), 'Pan Pan' (p. 46): 'To be used when there is concern for the safety of an aircraft, vehicle or person on board or within sight, and does not require immediate assistance. Pan Pan signifies an urgency message.' Format: 'PAN PAN PAN PAN PAN PAN (aircraft call sign) (situation/location/request/intentions) (number of persons on board) (fuel/endurance)'. Worked example: 'Pan pan, pan pan, pan pan, Helicopter Foxtrot Golf November Bravo, passenger aboard in medical distress, request land threshold one-nine, two persons on board'
- NAV CANADA VFR Phraseology guide, 'Mayday' (p. 46): 'To be used when the aircraft is threatened by serious and/or imminent danger and requires immediate assistance. Mayday signifies a distress situation.' Used here only to establish which of the two this situation is
- NAV CANADA VFR Phraseology guide, 'Emergency Communications' (p. 46): 'If you are in an urgent situation that does not require immediate assistance, making a PAN PAN call will ensure that ATS are aware you may need assistance.' And: 'Once you are safely on the ground, if able, contact the ATS unit to update them on your situation.'
- NAV CANADA VFR Phraseology guide, 'Transponder Phraseology' (p. 5): SQUAWK (four-digit code)
- NAV CANADA VFR Phraseology guide, 'Landing' (p. 41): '(wind) CLEARED TO LAND RUNWAY (n)'
- Canada Flight Supplement: runway 07