mayday 復習程度
ドイツの旅客機が墜落しました。乗客乗員の正式な安否確認は報告されておりません。事故の原因を救命する上で不可欠なブラックボックスは既に発見されております。墜落機は8分間にもわたって高度を下げ続けていたとあり，なぜこのようなことになったのかを解明することが期待されます。
記事の中で気になった単語は"mayday"です。『Wisdom英和辞典第三版』（三省堂）によると「メーデー（船舶・航空機の国際無線救難信号）」という意味がありました。ODには"An international radio distress signal used by ships and aircraft"と定義されております。救難信号の周波数が国際的に定められているということですね。ちなみに，同じ単語からなる"May Day"は「労働祭」を意味します。（Ume）
Germanwings plane 4U 9525 crashes in French Alps - no survivors
We know the aircraft went from a normal cruising height of 38,000 feet to crashing in the mountains in just eight minutes. One pilot told me that is twice the normal descent rate, but he also said that the aircraft is capable of coming down even more quickly and still being okay.
In an emergency, the pilots' first priority is to fly the plane, but as soon as they have some control they are trained to make an emergency call. That didn't appear to happen in this case, which suggests the pilots were coping with something so catastrophic they never had time to radio in a mayday, or turn to find the nearest runway.
It's still too early to know anything for certain, but that might point to both engines failing, a fuel problem or something critical breaking off the aircraft.
