Fire, Fire, Mayday, Mayday.

Fire, Fire, Mayday, Mayday is an acoustic rock song inspired by a real-life helicopter mishap on April 10, 1981, as told by retired Navy ADCS and now retired Helicopter Pilot. Mark L. Watson in his 2003 Approach Magazine article. This song captures the raw intensity of a Navy SH-3G flight gone wrong—when a gearbox failure sparked a cabin fire mid-flight, forcing a crew of five into an unscripted fight for survival over the California desert near Mount Whitney. With no training manual for this emergency, the crew’s seamless teamwork shone through: the HAC autorotated to a hard landing, the copilot managed throttles and fuel cutoffs, the first crewman battled flames, the second crewman wielded the extinguisher, and Mark, a rookie rescue swimmer, held on through the chaos. Miraculously, all five walked away, crediting their survival to God’s grace. This song honors their courage, the lessons learned about gear and preparedness, and the divine intervention that brought them home. Paired with a gouache-style image of the SH-3G flying high over the desert with Mount Whitney in the backdrop, this track is a tribute to aviation brotherhood and faith in the face of fire.