A student pilot practising a Mayday call put Balclutha emergency services through their paces yesterday when he mistakenly transmitted the alert over the airwaves.
South Otago Aero Club instructor Don Cameron, who was in the plane supervising, said the trainee pilot had accidentally left his finger on the microphone button.
‘‘It was just a slip - a word that shouldn't have been transmitted.''
The call was picked up by the Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Wellington, which alerted police at 4.19pm.
The instructor realised what had happened and cancelled the alert within ‘‘about two seconds'' but by that time it had ‘‘just got out of hand'', he said.
By that stage, a police communications spokesman said, police, fire and ambulance services were on the way to the club's airfield in Balclutha and had to be recalled.
The pilot, who had been learning to fly for the past two months and had flown solo, was extremely embarrassed, but hopefully he would learn a valuable lesson, Mr Cameron said.
He declined to name the pilot, who is believed to be a Balclutha teenager.
The pair were practising a simulated forced landing procedure, which involved idling the engine and allowing the plane to glide to the ground.
During this time, the pilot talks through all the drills and checks - but he had his hand down on the microphone when he uttered the words ‘‘Mayday, Mayday'', which were heard by another local pilot, who alerted emergency services.
Mr Cameron said he instantly knew the pilot had made a mistake and quickly issued a correction over the airwaves, ‘‘but it was too late and she was all on''.
For Mr Cameron, there was a positive side, with the quick turnout of emergency services boding well in the event of a real emergency.
‘‘They were all there very smartly, and in numbers, so that's reassuring if it ever happens for real, I guess.''
