Pan-pan

Pan - Pan is an urgent message on the radio traffic of ships, aircraft or other vehicle that is issued when the vehicle or its occupants are concrete, but not in acute danger, and with the crew demands for preferential treatment.

In Morse code emergency messages are preceded by the letters XXX. The next stage, which then requires an immediate danger to the vehicle or human life, is the distress call "Mayday " (or SOS).

Pan goes back to the French word panne; the meaning corresponds to that in English. The term is often incorrectly interpreted as a backronym for possible assistance needed ( English for " support available requires ").

Seafaring

Pan Pan - Pan Pan - Pan Pan conducts a marine radio in the urgency message. In the case of a medical emergency and Pan Pan Medico can (three times) are used.

The message itself contains:

• Identity of the vessel (usually the ship's name)
• Current position of a watercraft
• Type of damage
• Needed assistance

A typical case for Pan Pan is a maneuverability due to oars or machine failure and thereby indirect danger to the ship, for example, by stranding, or if necessary to call for a Medico - talk due to severe illness of a crew member of the radio doctor.

At an emergency message to other radio traffic is set. Only distress cases take precedence over the urgent message.

The legal consequence of an urgent message are regulated differently in different countries. In Germany, for assistance the GMRS responsible. She works free of charge to the rescue of people. For technical assistance they ask for cost sharing ( in a small lifeboat € 200 / h, with a rescue boat, which consumes 1700 liters of diesel per hour at full load, corresponding to more, a helicopter will cost about 10,000 € / h).

Aviation

Pan - Pan can be used in flight radio for messages concerning the safety of an aircraft or other vehicle or person. Emergency messages may also affect the own aircraft.

The emergency call is initiated by the preferably three-time transmission of the urgency signal PAN PAN, should be directed to a particular ground station and has the call sign of the reporting aircraft included. The following thereafter urgency message shall contain the following information:

• Kind of difficulty or observation
• More important for the assistance information
• Possibly intentions of the pilot
• Where applicable, information on the position, course and altitude.

Example: Swissair Flight 111 continued the following Pan Pan radio message from: "Swissair one-eleven heavy is declaring pan- pan- pan. We have smoke in the cockpit. Request immediate return to a convenient place, I guess Boston. "