Plane crash actions/speech

[isabrella]

Hi all!

I'm writing a piece about a precocious young teen who is playing a game about a plane crashing with her friends. It takes place in our world, in the 2010s. In the game, her friend pretends to be the pilot but the MC is going to correct her language from generic kid speech ("code red, we're going down!" etc.) to very specific pilot jargon because she knows all about plane crashed. I'm wondering if anyone could share what kind of jargon pilots might use during a plane crash? Any kind of crash is fine, but it would be good to know if the jargon was specific to e.g., engine failure.

Thank you!

Comments

[full_metal_ox]

What country are we talking? As far as the U.S. goes, here you are; if you need to be extremely period-specific (i.e., referencing a particular real-world video game), there are Wayback Machine saves going back to 14 December 2009: https://web.archive.org/web/20190704104114/https://eugeneleeslover.com/aviator_slang.html

[isabrella]

Thank you - that is really interesting!

[full_metal_ox]

Happy to be of whatever use you might find therein.

[packbat]

It's not an immediate answer, but the YouTube channel Mentour Pilot does very good documentaries about air incidents and accidents that might help you get some context for the kind of thing. You could also look up recordings of ATC audio - in the Miracle on the Hudson, the plane was in an emergency and going down, like your hypothetical kid speech example.

Actually, I just found a text version of the transcript - a couple lines from that:

Sullenberger (15:27:32.9): Mayday mayday mayday. Uh this is uh Cactus fifteen thirty nine hit birds, we've lost thrust (in/on) both engines we're turning back towards LaGuardia.

LaGuardia departure control (15:27:42): Ok uh, you need to return to LaGuardia? Turn left heading of uh two two zero.

Departure control (15:28:05): Cactus fifteen twenty nine, if we can get it for you do you want to try to land runway one three?

Sullenberger (15:28:10.6): We're unable. We may end up in the Hudson.

So, things I'm seeing: "code red" should be "Mayday, mayday, mayday", the kid should identify the plane, the kid should state what went wrong with the plane … I'm not an expert at all but those are a few obvious things I picked up on.

[isabrella]

Brilliant, thanks so much! That's been super helpful.

[erinptah]

Try searching this database for reports during the time period you're interested in? Aircraft failures are meticulously documented and dissected, I know there are public records of cockpit conversations, and this looks like a likely place to find them.

[isabrella]

Perfect - oh man, y'all are so good at finding stuff, I need to up my research game!! Thank you :)

[elwendell]

OK. Just for kicks and giggles. Here's a British Airways pilot announcement on a potential crash.

https://youtu.be/uCnE5vymcqg?si=Fp-e3j1dbJMfrnGo

[isabrella]

Great thank you so much! :D

[nerakrose]

watch a couple of episodes of the docuseries Air Crash Investigation (called Mayday in some countries) and you'll very quickly get a feel for language. you could probably even focus on specific episodes featuring the type of crash you want to use. the series doesn't only focus on crashes - there are many types of incidents and accidents that can happen in the air, including ones with good outcomes!

[isabrella]

Oh great - that sounds super useful, I will check it out!

[packbat]

Belatedly: Air Crash Investigations/Mayday is actually the most likely source of information your kid had - Wikipedia says it started in 2003, so it was actively running with a good backlog at the time. Like, technically the kid could also have friends or family members with aviation knowledge, or have read magazines or something, but I bet a lot of kid's introduction to the subject was that show.

[isabrella]

Ah brilliant, that's great to know too!

[rekishi]

There's actually a transcript of Air France Flight 447 available that went down over the Pacific on the Wikipedia page. Maybe similar leaked transcripts are also available (not for MH 370 that also vanished, but maybe the Malaysia Air flight that got down by a russian missile or the Iranian Air flight that was shot down by the US), but this is the one I know about for sure.

Hope it helps!

[isabrella]

I just read this and wow, so fascinating/macabre. Thank you, it's helpful :)

[melannen]

I'd also recommend the podcast Black Box Down, which covered lots of air accidents from all different countries and has lots of direct transcripts of pilot recordings included.

[isabrella]

Oh, great idea, thanks!

[hamatebones]

The short version: yes, there is specific jargon, and it extends not only to emergencies but to ALL communication outside of the aircraft, plus a lot of communication within the aircraft. The jargon is somewhat country-specific and occasionally slangy, but the variations are small enough that most people don't have trouble with it.

Longer version: your player will say one set of things to their "copilot" and a different set of things if they're announcing things to Air Traffic Control. If their plane goes explodey at 30,000 feet in a clear blue sky (See: United 232, https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/accidentreports/reports/aar-90-06.pdf), then they have options and the conversation will be much lengthier. If they're in the middle of takeoff/landing and something goes wrong, the conversations will be much more short and abrupt (See: transcript of the Miracle on the Hudson https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/AAR1003.pdf , where the Captain gets down to single-word answers). In emergencies, you often have very minimal broadcasts, because unnecessary talk can be a real distraction to the pilots trying to fly the damn plane.

Pitch trim runaway on takeoff (VERY BAD)? The pilots might not say a fucking word to ATC, and ATC just watches the plane do frantic ascending circles till the pilots regain control. If the pilots say anything other than swearwords, it's "stall stall stall," to each other, until they've regained control. And only then do they call ATC, and ask to land ASAP ("Tower, this is Blorbo 123, mayday mayday mayday need immediate landing").

Engine failure at 30,000 feet? Well, that's an "emergency" (in Europe it's usually a pan-pan, that is, might eventually be mayday but not yet) but not actually likely to cause a crash; pilots would do an engine failure checklist, and might even call their company dispatcher before communicating to ATC that they're having difficulty. Even an uncontained engine failure that breaches the fuselage, like Southwest 1380 (https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/AAR1903.pdf), there's managing the immediate emergency -- pilots put on their air masks, start descending to 10,000 feet where the passengers can breathe, and only then do they reach out to ATC to make sure other airplanes get out of their way. ("Mayday mayday mayday, this is Blorbo 123, loss of pressurization, need immediate descent.") But once down to that safer altitude, the plane is still flying! Planes do fine on a single engine! Conversations with ATC can slow down! That plane will get to jump the queue and land immediately, but it'll land safely unless something else goes drastically wrong.

The fact is, when a plane crashes, there's often very minimal conversation to be recovered. Crashes usually happen from low altitude, so the time between "Yikes" and death is a few seconds, maybe. The pilots are concentrating on not crashing, so may not say a single word, or only a few "flaps! FLAPS!!" to each other, and nothing to ATC. Even when the emergency happens at high altitude, as with Egypt Air 804 (https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/masks-smoke-and-mirrors-the-untold-story-of-egyptair-flight-804-42c788fcac2d), that emergency may be an oxygen fire in the cockpit, in which case the pilots are way too busy fighting to breathe to say much at all.

[isabrella]

Ooh, that's all great info, thank you. I will have a read of the sources!

[(Anonymous)]

Career pilot here, USA based. As others have mentioned pretty much everything in aviation is legislated, standardized, and organized in checklists. However, the actual successful application of procedures and tone / emotion while applying are going to vary across the pilot’s experience and background. Your war veteran helicopter pilot that’s been shot down multiple times and now flies tours of the Grand Canyon, when losing their one engine may continue giving the tour script to the passengers after quickly sending out a distress call (true story). Cessna Bob (generic name for a guy who gets their private pilots license, basically a drivers license, minimum 40 hours of training (not a lot)) might freak out and panic and fail to do proper procedures, or Cessna Bob could calmly follow the checklist and save the day.

Not sure of the broader context of your MC being a kid but knowing all about plane crashes, but the biggest thing is always just getting the information out there. This will depend on if you’re in controlled airspace (airport areas or high traffic volume with good radio reception) or uncontrolled airspace (mountainous terrain, the ocean, and the boonies). You always want to get out nature of distress, intentions, and desired assistance from the controlling agency, if any. The closer you are to crashing, the less info and fewer words will be passed.

Example:
Engine failure on takeoff (especially bad because you probably won’t have enough power to climb to an altitude you can come back in for the runway, and there will be trees or buildings past the runway you just took off from): “Tower, Delta 1487. Engine failure, going around for 29.” In this case the pilot is requesting a perpendicular runway (really announcing that they’re going there because they’ve determined it’s the only viable option and there’s no time to hash anything out). The controller will know to order immediate ground stop and cancel all other takeoff and landing clearances for other aircraft, get the crash crews rolling, and clear the way for the emergency aircraft. If Cessna Bob is in the same situation their radio call could be the same (call sign would be something like 3ES, three echo Sierra) OR Cessna Bob could use “plain language” which is also totally appropriate.

If there’s time, adding three maydays at the beginning of your transmission alerts all others on the frequency that you’re experiencing distress and to keep the frequency clear for emergency communication. You’re also supposed to literally say “declaring an emergency.”

If your MC is going for the textbook transmission, the “mayday mayday mayday. This is Tango Papa Three Echo Sierra. I’m experiencing a single engine failure, unable to climb. Declaring an emergency, request vectors for Happy Days Airport without delay.”

Honestly for a two (or more) engine aircraft a single engine failure is no biggie. Single engine would obvi be a larger issue. Planes glide a good distance tho and they like to fly (unlike helicopters) so it’s not as scary as someone might think. Things that WOULD be a huge issue tho are fires (usually shutting down an on fire engine puts out the fire), or a hydraulic issue (only on a big plane tho, since you need hydraulic boots to actually move the flight controls). Landing gear failing to extend is also actually a huge problem that can be very catastrophic but it doesn’t sound as exciting to non aviation people. Also getting stuck in the clouds when you’re not trained / licensed to fly thru them and then getting lost, flying into terrain (basically instant death), or running out of gas and your engines flaming out because you’re trying to get out of low lying clouds is also super bad and a causal factor in many general aviation mishaps but that usually an emergency from poor pilotage rather than a mechanical failure, which is way more exciting for a story.

[isabrella]

Thank you! She's a precocious kid who's obsessed with plane crashes and is correcting all of her friends whenever they talk about planes, so she would absolutely want that textbook knowledge. :D