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On June 12, 2025, an Air India flight experienced a critical emergency immediately after departure from Ahmedabad. The pilot\u2019s urgent Mayday call was the final communication before tragedy struck. Here\u2019s what the Mayday signal means, when it\u2019s used, and why it\u2019s crucial in aviation emergencies.<\/strong><\/p>\n An\u00a0Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner<\/strong>, operating as\u00a0Flight AI-171<\/strong>\u00a0and bound for\u00a0London Gatwick<\/strong>, made a distress call moments after taking off from\u00a0Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad<\/strong>\u00a0on Thursday, June 12. The aircraft was carrying\u00a0242 individuals<\/strong>, including crew and passengers.<\/p>\n According to initial reports confirmed by the\u00a0Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)<\/strong>,\u00a0Captain Sumeet Sabharwal<\/strong>, who was commanding the flight, issued a\u00a0Mayday<\/strong>\u00a0call to\u00a0Air Traffic Control (ATC)<\/strong>\u00a0within seconds of takeoff. The signal was the\u00a0last communication<\/strong>\u00a0from the aircraft before it lost radar contact and\u00a0crashed into a residential area in Meghaninagar<\/strong>\u00a0at approximately\u00a01:39 PM IST<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Plumes of black smoke were seen rising from the site as emergency teams responded swiftly. Despite repeated attempts by ATC to reestablish contact, no further communication was received after the distress call.<\/p>\n The term \u201cMayday<\/strong>\u201d is an\u00a0international distress signal<\/strong>\u00a0used in\u00a0aviation and maritime communications<\/strong>. It is\u00a0reserved for situations involving immediate, life-threatening emergencies<\/strong>. The signal must be repeated three times consecutively \u2013 \u201cMayday, Mayday, Mayday<\/strong>\u201d \u2013 to ensure it is clearly understood and receives top priority.<\/p>\n The word \u201cMayday\u201d originates from the\u00a0French phrase \u201cm\u2019aider\u201d<\/strong>, which translates to \u201chelp me<\/strong>.\u201d It was introduced in the 1920s by\u00a0Frederick Stanley Mockford<\/strong>, a senior radio officer at Croydon Airport in London. By 1927, the term was officially adopted as the\u00a0standard voice call for distress<\/strong>\u00a0under the\u00a0International Radiotelegraph Convention<\/strong>. It complements the Morse code signal \u201cSOS<\/strong>\u201d for emergencies.<\/p>\n While\u00a0Mayday<\/strong>\u00a0denotes an\u00a0urgent, life-threatening situation<\/strong>, a\u00a0Pan-Pan<\/strong>\u00a0call is used for\u00a0less severe emergencies<\/strong>\u00a0where immediate assistance is not necessary. For example, a Pan-Pan might be issued for non-critical technical issues or minor medical problems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On June 12, 2025, an Air India flight experienced a critical emergency immediately after departure from Ahmedabad. The pilot\u2019s urgent Mayday call was the final communication before tragedy struck. … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dynenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dynenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dynenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dynenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dynenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dynenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52,"href":"https:\/\/dynenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49\/revisions\/52"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dynenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dynenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dynenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Incident: Air India Flight AI-171 Issues Mayday Before Crash<\/h2>\n
<\/div>\n![\"Ahmedabad](\"https:\/\/c.ndtvimg.com\/2025-06\/06if48mg_air-india-plane-crash-_650x400_12_June_25.jpg?im=FeatureCrop,algorithm=dnn,width=1200,height=738\")
<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nWhat Is a Mayday Call?<\/h2>\n
![\"'Mayday..No](\"https:\/\/images.cnbctv18.com\/uploads\/2025\/06\/2025-06-12t144401z-1892622161-rc221fawsteg-rtrmadp-3-india-crash-2025-06-98fb5b8efa4fca00a07a6f05c646c0c1-780x438.jpg\")
<\/p>\nOrigin and Definition<\/h3>\n
<\/div>\nMayday vs. Pan-Pan<\/h3>\n
![\"AI](\"https:\/\/im.rediff.com\/news\/2025\/jun\/13plane-crash-ahmedabad1.jpg?w=450&h=450\")
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