I have read that "mayday" the distress signal is taken from
"m'aidez," French for "help me."
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Mayday
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The voice-announced distress call is "mayday mayday mayday".
It's not taken as a distress call unless it's spoken three
times.
Its origin is the French "M'aidez" meaning "help me".
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1. SOS 2. MAYDAY (from the French`M`aider `- Help me
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The mayday transmission made by airplane pilots is a distress
signal. MAYDAY spoken clearly indicates a pilot and/or aircraft in
an emergency situation. Air Traffic Control then tells the pilot to
switch to the emergency frequency 121.5.