‘Mayday': History of the globally recognised distress signal, Air India 171's final communication
It replaced the Morse code S.O.S, which stands for 'Save Our Souls', because 'S' was getting lost in transmission due to difficulty in recognising it over phone calls at the time.
Delhi: The word, mayday, was invented by Fredrick Stanley Mockford, a British senior officer radio in charge at Croydon Airport in the United Kingdom in 1923.
The crash claimed 241 lives onboard the flight and left several medical college students in their building dead, whereas one AI171 passenger miraculously survived.
The final word of the AI171 pilot to the air traffic control (ATC) in Ahmedabad was 'mayday', with no further response.
'Mayday': Its origin
'Mayday' is now globally recognised as an emergency distress signal for aviators and mariners. Mockford was assigned the task of finding an easily recognisable emergency call signal against the backdrop of 'S.O.S' getting lost during transmission.
During that period, a majority of the air traffic was between Le Bourget Airport in France and Croydon in Britain.
While attending radio calls, Mockford often heard French pilots use a word, 'm'aidez', sounding like 'mayday' to the ears of the British officer and meaning 'help me' literally. So, he proposed using 'mayday' as the emergency distress signal, and the pilots of aircraft crossing the English Channel started using it.
In 1927, at the International Radiotelegraph Convention in Washington, D.C., the United States officially adopted 'mayday' as the radio-telephone distress call signal.
Nearly 100 years on, 'mayday' is still the aviation phrase that pilots often use to signal distress or emergency signals to ground ATC.
Why it is 'mayday mayday mayday'
Pilots are required to say 'mayday' three times to make the word heard— distinctively. Saying it three times ensures it does not get mixed with other signal transmissions or interferences.
Communication systems between aircraft and ATC have improved substantially over the years, but the protocol has remained unchanged.
After stating 'mayday' three times, a pilot needs to communicate various other critical information, if time permits.
'Mayday' is followed by a call sign, the nature of the emergency, current location, height, number of people onboard, and fuel quantity, along with any other information that would help ATC guide the pilots and prepare emergency measures on the ground.
Unfortunately, the AI171 pilots had less than a minute to deliver any information to the ATC, which could have saved the plane. 'Mayday', therefore, continues to remain the most feared word globally for pilots, passengers, and the ATC.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
Also Read: Montreal Convention to decide final compensation for Air India crash victims' kin. What it say
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
3 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Chennai Airport issues clarification after reports of fire in cargo plane engine
Hours after reports of a fire in one of the engines of an international cargo plane during landing at the Chennai airport, authorities of the facility clarified that 'there was no major fire' but only 'a minor spark'. The Chennai airport authority clarified in its statement that the aircraft did not suffer any damage. (Unsplash/Representative Image) The cargo plane, which was coming from Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur, landed safely at Chennai. The fire erupted in the fourth engine of the cargo plane during landing, prompting the pilots to alert the officials, news agency PTI reported, citing official sources. The Chennai International Airport issued a clarification over the reports, saying, "It is hereby stated that there was no major fire in the engine while landing. There was a minor spark and smoke in the engine, which may be due to oil dirt, residues, etc." It added that the aircraft did not suffer any damage in the incident. The airport authority emphasised that the matter had been "blown out of proportion". "We request the media and press who are business partners of Chennai International Airport to refrain from publishing such reports without confirming from the O/o Airport Director, Chennai Airport so as to not create panic among the travelling public," the Chennai Airport authority said in the statement. Earlier, officials said that reportedly no emergency landing made, and the pilots landed the aircraft safely. In other news, Air India on Monday said that a Delhi-bound flight from Thiruvananthapuram was diverted to Chennai on Sunday, following the protocols. The airline said that the first landing attempt had to be aborted due to the suspected presence of foreign debris on the runway amid safety concerns raised by some Parliamentarians who were onboard the plane. ALSO READ | DGCA rejects MP's claim on flight safety after Air India flight to Delhi gets diverted The flight AI2455, which was diverted to Chennai after a suspected technical issue, landed safely. India's aviation watchdog, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), said Air India's flight to Delhi was diverted to Chennai on Sunday evening because of a suspected malfunction of the weather radar of the aircraft. Senior Congress leader KC Venugopal, among the other Parliamentarians aboard the plane, claimed that the aircraft came "frighteningly close to tragedy". (with PTI inputs)
Time of India
3 hours ago
- Time of India
India's Independence Fight: When Bengali gym bros flexed muscles against the British
During colonialism, the British called some of the communities in India as "martial races" while most others they stereotyped as lazy and effete. "A low-lying people in a low-lying land". So ran a favourite British sneer at Bengalis about the turn of the century; to which a high official added: "with the intellect of a Greek and the grit of a rabbit"," wrote historian John Rosselli. The Bengalis, however, overturned the stereotype of a lazy and weak-bodied oriental at a great cost to the British. "From the mid-nineteenth century to the 1930s the Bengali Hindu élite, a group which had developed in a symbiotic relation to British rule, made the stereotype its own," Rosselli wrote. "It strove to overcome its supposed degeneracy through the pursuit of physical culture. In this it reacted in some ways like other nationalist élite groups in India, China and Europe, which sought in physical culture and martial arts redress for what they experienced as humiliation." Finance Value and Valuation Masterclass Batch-1 By CA Himanshu Jain View Program Finance Value and Valuation Masterclass - Batch 2 By CA Himanshu Jain View Program Finance Value and Valuation Masterclass - Batch 3 By CA Himanshu Jain View Program Artificial Intelligence AI For Business Professionals By Vaibhav Sisinity View Program Finance Value and Valuation Masterclass - Batch 4 By CA Himanshu Jain View Program Artificial Intelligence AI For Business Professionals Batch 2 By Ansh Mehra View Program In the early twentieth century, akhadas (wrestling clubs and gymnasiums) started cropping up across Kolkata where young boys (gym bros in current idiom) trained their bodies the traditional way. But that was not their only purpose. They were not gym rats who merely wanted buff bodies to show off. The akhadas were actually a network for young Bengalis to organise themselves against the British for a militant resistance. That movement, called Anushilan Samiti , was one of India's first violent anti-colonial movements. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like The Device That's Changing The Game For Smokers iQuit Shop Now Undo Also Read: Narco-colonialism: How Britain exploited Indians for its drug trade with China Anushilan Samiti: From akhadas to armed resistance Live Events The story of India's struggle for independence is often framed around non-violence, constitutional reform and mass movements. Yet, beneath this mainstream narrative existed an undercurrent of armed resistance, defined by small but determined groups who believed that the colonial state could only be confronted with direct action. Anushilan Samiti -- a group that uniquely combined physical training, spiritual nationalism and political violence -- was among the earliest and most influential of these revolutionary organizations. The origins of Anushilan Samiti lie in a growing nationalist sentiment in Bengal at the turn of the 20th century. At a time when British colonial discourse emphasised the weakness of the Indian male, some Indian thinkers and leaders, particularly inspired by Swami Vivekananda , advocated a counter-narrative of physical strength and discipline. This ideological climate gave birth to the akhada movement -- local gymnasiums where young men were trained in indigenous forms of wrestling, stick-fighting, swordsmanship and later even Western-style boxing. These spaces were not just about building physical prowess. They became places where youth could be indoctrinated into a new form of nationalist masculinity. In Bengal, this took the form of clubs and secret societies that began to blur the lines between physical culture and political radicalism. The term Anushilan (meaning 'discipline' or 'practice') itself reflected this synthesis of body, mind and nation. Also Read: Before Trump, British used tariffs to kill Indian textile Anushilan Samiti was formally established in 1902 in Calcutta, under the initiative of Pramathanath Mitra, a barrister who believed that political freedom would have to be won through preparation, strength and sacrifice. He was supported by figures like Satish Chandra Basu and Sarala Devi Chaudhurani, who offered both ideological and logistical backing. These early years saw the Samiti operate as a semi-clandestine network, with new recruits taking oaths on the Bhagavad Gita , pledging to serve the nation above all else. The combination of Hindu philosophical revivalism and Western ideas of military discipline created a unique ideological mix: revolutionary action was framed as both a sacred duty and a nationalist necessity. Also Read: When Made-in-India engines alarmed the British From physical training to political violence The Partition of Bengal in 1905 by Lord Curzon acted as a catalyst. What had been a semi-cultural movement turned increasingly political and militant. A more radical wing of the Samiti emerged under the leadership of Barindra Kumar Ghosh (brother of Sri Aurobindo) and others, later becoming known as the Jugantar group. A parallel organisation, the Dhaka Anushilan Samiti , was founded by Pulin Behari Das and quickly expanded across eastern Bengal, amassing thousands of members. These groups began to undertake acts of political violence, often targeting British officials, informants and symbols of colonial authority. The philosophy was simple: "terror for terror", a strategic use of fear to counter British repression and shake the moral legitimacy of the empire. The assassination of British magistrates, the planting of bombs, and planned robberies to fund revolutionary activity became hallmarks of the Samiti's actions. The Alipore Bomb Case of 1908, in which young revolutionaries like Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki attempted to kill a British judge, marked the first major confrontation between the British state and the Samiti. Although unsuccessful, the case exposed the extent of the underground revolutionary network and led to arrests, trials and executions. Also Read: After Jhansi ki Rani, another queen fought the British Tactics, surveillance and British response Over time, Anushilan Samiti developed into a sophisticated underground organisation, with covert communication, arms smuggling and connections to international anti-colonial networks. The Rodda arms heist of 1914, a successful theft of a massive arms shipment in Calcutta, highlighted the Samiti's capabilities. British intelligence responded by expanding the Special Branch, tightening the Defence of India Act (1915) and initiating widespread surveillance and suppression operations. However, the Samiti remained elusive. Leaders like Rash Behari Bose and Jatindranath Mukherjee (Bagha Jatin) kept the revolutionary flame alive, attempting to link domestic revolution with global geopolitical shifts, especially during World War I. These efforts included attempts to collaborate with Germany to launch a pan-Indian uprising, although ultimately these plans were foiled. By the 1920s, the revolutionary movement began to splinter under the dual pressures of British repression and the rise of Gandhian non-violence. Many Anushilan members joined mainstream politics, the Indian National Congress, or took part in leftist and Marxist movements. Others continued in smaller groups, contributing to later episodes of revolutionary action such as the Chittagong Armoury Raid (1930) led by Surya Sen, and the Kakori Conspiracy (1925) organised by the Hindustan Republican Association . The Anushilan Samiti officially disbanded by the late 1930s, but its legacy endured. It demonstrated that nationalism could take many forms, and that armed resistance, despite being controversial and often morally ambiguous, was a genuine part of India's anti-colonial imagination. The history of Anushilan Samiti complicates the popular narrative of India's independence struggle as solely peaceful and non-violent. Emerging from the humble yet politically charged space of akhadas and gymnasiums, it bridged the gap between cultural nationalism and militant resistance. While it failed to deliver a decisive blow to the British Empire, it played a vital role in shaping the emotional and ideological terrain of the Indian freedom movement by fostering a generation of youth who believed in sacrifice, secrecy and the sanctity of their nationalist cause. The legacy refuses to die The akhada culture of Kolkata, which fostered one of the first militant resistance movements against the British, refuses to die. In 2016, TOI reported on how one of the akharas associated with Anushilan Samiti -- Hatkhola Byayam Samity -- was still operating after it was set up more than a century ago. "At 106, it is the city's oldest gymnasium. Established by freedom fighters in 1910, it is still going strong," TOI reported. "Manohar Aich and many other legends would regularly work out there with kusti and mugur at the feet of mammoth-sized wall paintings of Lord Hanuman, the resident deity of the samity. The Mitra family of Hatkhola -- who owned quite a bit of property here -- donated the piece of land to freedom fighters Upendranath Bandyopadhyay and Pushpalal Chakraborty, who were associated with Anushilan Samity. Bandyopadhyay was also a co-accused with Barin Ghosh and Aurobindo Ghosh in the Alipore Bomb case." "The wooden maces that they used, the iron wall bar, donkaath for the classic donbaithak, leg press, bench press and pull-over -- all exist to this day at the samity and are used by pehelwans or byambirs as the members prefer to call themselves. The samity has 5,500 members aged between 20 and 70," said the TOI report.
Indian Express
5 hours ago
- Indian Express
Independence Day 2025: ‘Military village' Apshinge recalls living through war days with a mix of pride, anxiety
It was past midnight, but Divya could not sleep. She kept checking WhatsApp every 10 minutes. Finally, around 1 am, she saw what she had been waiting for – the 'last seen' status of her husband. '12.55 am,' it said. She sighed in relief and was fast asleep in a few minutes. Hundreds of kilometres away, at the border, her husband had opened WhatsApp and closed it almost immediately. It was enough to convey the message to his wife: that he was safe. This was when Operation Sindoor, India's military response to the Pahalgam terror attack, was at its peak. Unable to speak to each other, the soldier and his wife had come up with this little plan to update her about his well-being which she would promptly convey to his aged parents and three-year-old daughter. 'On days there were no updates, I was in deep worry, glued to the television screen for information,' she says. The family was one of the 30-35 others in the village who spent those days with mixed feelings: of anxiety, as each of these families had a member posted at the border, and pride at them having kept alive the tradition of the village. The very tradition that has earned it immense fame, respect and the name – Apshinge 'military village'. Long tradition of military service 'Since the time of Shivaji Maharaj, this village has contributed soldiers who have fought for the land's honour and even laid down their lives. Every household here has had a member who is or has been part of the military or paramilitary,' says Tushar Nikam, sarpanch of the village, as he proudly points to a memorial constructed by the British in commemoration of 46 soldiers from Apshinge village in Maharashtra's Satara 'who went to the Great War 1914-1919'. A little further, another memorial is dedicated to those who fought the post-Independence wars of 1965, 1971 and Kargil – the names numbering around 115. The village with a population of about 3,000 has about 250 serving and 500 retired soldiers at present. 'Many homes have only women and children as the man of the house is serving in the Army. The entire village gives them emotional support and looks after them, especially during times like Operation Sindoor, when these families were under much stress,' adds Nikam For Priyanka, the wife of a Border Security Force (BSF) jawan posted at the border, the worries had doubled this time around. A working woman, she had travelled from Satara to Punjab with her two children on a few days' leave, in anticipation of spending time together as a family. 'The day I reached, Operation Sindoor started. I couldn't go to where my husband was, nor could I return to Apshinge,' she says. For almost two weeks, she lived in Punjab with her children, hearing the drones fly overhead while sitting quietly during the blackouts at night. Her worries for the safety of her husband was compounded by the fear for her life as well as that of their children. Divya finally met him much after the ceasefire was announced, a day before they were to return to Apshinge. 'But for my husband, this was a very small sacrifice. He was just glad to have got the chance to be a part of the action, and make his country and village proud,' she says. Training the next generation Located in the heart of the village is Vijeta Career Academy which was started a few years ago by a retired soldier. It trains men aged between 18 and 25 from all over Maharashtra to crack the Army recruitment examination. Over the last three-four years, a growing number of women too have joined the academy, their hearts set on joining the police service after undergoing rigorous physical training at the academy. At the edge of the village is a small two-storeyed house with the nameplate 'Late Rashid Mohd Shaikh, Retd NB/SUB. BEG'. Shaikh, says Nikam, was the first soldier from the village to be martyred after Independence. Inside the residence, his widowed daughter-in-law Hazra lives with her children, tending to the farmland given to the family by the government after Shaikh's death. Her 17-year-old daughter stands by shyly and reveals that she is studying to join the Army Nursing Corps examination. 'Come back in a few years. We will have an army of our girls in the military too,' smiles Hazra. Meanwhile, a small bunch of soldiers who are currently in the village on leave are helping with preparations for the Independence Day function, which is always a big day at the village. Says one, 'But of course, we are always on standby. One call and we will be on our way back on duty immediately.'
