Major mix-up in the sky? Tigerair Taiwan mistakenly reports EVA Air's "MAYDAY" — Civil Aviation Administration calls it bizarre

▲ Illustration of air traffic controllers and control tower. (Photo / Screen capture from ANWS Facebook page)

Reported by Lai Wen-hsuan / Taipei

A recent audio clip on YouTube titled “EVA Air mistakenly reported MAYDAY by Taiwan’s Tigerair” captures a Taiwan Tigerair IT203 pilot asking if EVA Air flight 171 had issued a distress signal. However, air traffic control repeatedly questioned this, and even EVA flight 171 responded that everything was normal, expressing confusion over Tigerair’s actions. The Civil Aviation Administration stated that after investigation, it confirmed no MAYDAY alert had been received from EVA Air flight 171.

A Civil Aviation Administration official confirmed on the 22nd that the audio clip does exist, but since no actual MAYDAY was issued, no report was received and the matter will not be further investigated. However, it is generally unusual for another aircraft to declare a MAYDAY on behalf of someone else—such cases are rare.

MAYDAY is the internationally recognized radio distress signal. Recently, however, an audio clip emerged of a Taiwan Tigerair pilot asking if EVA Air flight 171 had issued a distress call. After being asked three times, air traffic control confirmed that the EVA flight was fine, and the EVA pilot even retorted in Chinese, “Did I say we were in an emergency?” After confirming with air traffic control, he finally said, “Thanks, don’t scare people.”

▲ A video titled “EVA Air mistakenly reported MAYDAY by Taiwan’s Tigerair” appeared on YouTube. (Photo / Screenshot from YouTube)

It is understood that EVA Air flight 171 and Tigerair Taiwan IT203 both departed from Incheon and Tokyo respectively at 8:49 p.m. on the 21st and arrived in Taiwan around the same time. The Civil Aviation Administration stated that after checking, no MAYDAY alert from EVA was received that day, and EVA flight 171 landed as scheduled. It is unclear why Tigerair suddenly asked if EVA had issued a distress signal, as such incidents are quite rare.

However, Tigerair Taiwan responded that after verification, there was no mistaken report from Tigerair Taiwan IT203, and that the audio clip likely has missing context — suggesting that air traffic control should look into how to verify it. Meanwhile, the YouTube video was set to private at 10 p.m. on the 22nd and is no longer viewable.