That one’s a pet peeve of mine, there’s an international standard phrase that makes you the most important airplane in the sky… and the country with the most planes per square inch turns it from one word into four words that are easy to misinterpret or step on.

There could be two planes with both engines on fire and we will hear “United 123 is declaring an emergency, both engine are on fire” and the other one that will be “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, Speedbird 123 dual engine fire” nobody cares what United is telling the controller because they didn’t start with an emergency message, but you can damn well bet that on my flight deck every pilot is silent and listening to what Speedbird needs to return to earth safely and how it might affect us.

This isn’t a new phenomena, and I’ve had students that I’ve beat this lesson into: When you say “Mayday” over the radio, you are the single most important person in the sky at that exact moment and everyone you talk to after that point is obligated to move heaven and earth to assist you in returning to earth safely.

When you say “we are declaring an emergency” must not be that urgent if you can use so many words.