Qantas flight from Auckland to Sydney makes mayday call

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Interesting choice of language in the first article that was posted (nine news) …. “A Qantas flight travelling across the Pacific Ocean… “ whilst technically correct conjures up more emotion than the perhaps more accurate “Tasman Sea” . Still both big bodies of water and long way between airports but they are different in magnitude.
 
It’s possible initially it was, but if so, it was then downgraded to a PAN.
From The Age:

A Qantas spokesperson said the aircraft experienced an issue with one of its two engines about an hour from Sydney and issued a mayday alert in line with standard procedures.
“Mayday” is the word used by aviators to signal a life-threatening emergency.

The mayday alert was later downgraded to a PAN (possible assistance needed).

I'm guessing an hour out of Sydney they would have been out of VHF range and made the call over HF
 
An hour out from SYD is a lot later than the initial descent to 20k feet. So presumably there was a problem early that then worsened.
 
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Still enough for ARFF to be deployed.

Sounds like it was originally a Mayday then downgraded to a PAN so legitimate media interest as aircraft in AU don't do this on a daily basis (thankfully).

For one, a PAN PAN and a MAYDAY have no direct corelation with the airport response. That being said, PAN PAN usually results in a local standby, a MAYDAY results in a full emergency (level 1-3). It's not out of the question for the airport to declare a full emergency for a PAN PAN if they think it's warranted.

ARFF will usually deploy on a local standby as well.

And yes - it's PAN PAN. A pan is what you cook bacon on.

This link explains it all:
 
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