A380 Mayday - Emirates - Slightly excessive or....?

May Day! Emirates A380 pilot declares emergency on EK 413 Sydney - Dubai

The pilot flying the Emirates A380 jet radioed: "Colombo Center: May day, may day." After he sent this distress call, all emergency procedures were put in place on EK413.

471 passengers and 30 crew were on board this Dubai based Emirates Airline Airbus A380 when pilots detected smoke in the cockpit on Friday.

EK 413 flying from Auckland, New Zealand with stop in Sydney, Australia to Dubai, UAE was about 600 kilometers east of Colombo, Sri Lanka when the emergency was declared. Colombo airport got ready for an emergency involving the largest passenger airplane model flying the skies.

39 minutes after the first distress call, pilots managed to land the aircraft safely at Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo. Fire trucks and medical units were standing by. All passengers and crew disembarked safely.

A statement from the airline said the plane had suffered a "technical fault" and was diverted to Colombo, without giving details.

Passengers were being transferred to other Emirates flights.