ATC accents

Have anyone of you had a problem with the accents of various ATC chaps
around the world? The German guy in our office always has a problem
picking up words I (an Indian) pronounce, and I can't fault him for
that, because most Europeans can't figure Indians' pronounciation.

But I guess this problem is with a few Spaniards and Italians too, the
way they speak English, with accentuated guttural sounds and all that.

Is this a trivial problem, considering the standard phraseology in use
in ATC communications, or can it lead to something worse?

Ramapriya

There have been a number of incidents and a few accidents
that were caused by or in which language was a factor. The
747s that collided on the runway at Tenerife was one of
those accidents. NASA safety reports cite many language
problems http://asrs.arc.nasa.gov/


--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

"Ramapriya" wrote in message
oups.com...
| Have anyone of you had a problem with the accents of
various ATC chaps
| around the world? The German guy in our office always has
a problem
| picking up words I (an Indian) pronounce, and I can't
fault him for
| that, because most Europeans can't figure Indians'
pronounciation.
|
| But I guess this problem is with a few Spaniards and
Italians too, the
| way they speak English, with accentuated guttural sounds
and all that.
|
| Is this a trivial problem, considering the standard
phraseology in use
| in ATC communications, or can it lead to something worse?
|
| Ramapriya
|

"Ramapriya" wrote

Have anyone of you had a problem with the accents of various ATC
chaps around the world?

We, at PanAm, didn't have all that much of a problem.

Bob Moore

In a previous article, Bob Moore said:
"Ramapriya" wrote
Have anyone of you had a problem with the accents of various ATC
chaps around the world?

We, at PanAm, didn't have all that much of a problem.

I deal with a lot of French Canadian accents, but I never have any trouble
understanding them. But that might just be because I grew up with them.

I heard a guy flying a Canadian reg plane with a thick hispanic accent the
other day, and I couldn't understand half of what he was saying, and he
seemed to be having trouble understanding the controllers. Fortunately it
was a good VFR day and so it didn't matter so much.


--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
With M$, as far as I'm aware, the stupidity comes bundled with the software.
-- Meg Thornton

On Mon, 2 Jan 2006 07:09:11 -0600, "Jim Macklin"
wrote:

There have been a number of incidents and a few accidents
that were caused by or in which language was a factor. The
747s that collided on the runway at Tenerife was one of
those accidents. NASA safety reports cite many language
problems http://asrs.arc.nasa.gov/

Just before Xmas I flew with an instructor, from Tenerife North (Los
Rodeos), and he said the other factor was one transmission stamping on
the another:-(

When I flew I did most of the radio calls with ground, tower, approach
including La Gomera. There were no problems and their English was
pretty good (100% better than my Spanish!).

I have flown either solo or with an instructor in a number of coutries
with no problems (Finland, Spain, Portugal, Canada, USA, New Zealand,
Bahamas, St. Lucia). Any problems have been due to local procedures or
names. e.g. the Hawaiian language has very few letters and
pronunciation of place names is interesting.

To be honest I've found some of the UK Military very poor and I've
sometimes reported difficuly copying, but that's usually been due to
distortion on their transmission.

The best solution, until everybody speaks with a USA Midwest
dialect, is to say, "Unable to understand the clearance,
please speak slower and use "words twice" please."

I think when language becomes an issue, missed radio calls
and blocked transmissions are more of a problem because the
frequency congestion is not noticed.

The use of a good headset is very important, cabin speakers
are generally terrible.


--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

wrote in message
...
| On Mon, 2 Jan 2006 07:09:11 -0600, "Jim Macklin"
| wrote:
|
| There have been a number of incidents and a few accidents
| that were caused by or in which language was a factor.
The
| 747s that collided on the runway at Tenerife was one of
| those accidents. NASA safety reports cite many language
| problems http://asrs.arc.nasa.gov/
|
| Just before Xmas I flew with an instructor, from Tenerife
North (Los
| Rodeos), and he said the other factor was one transmission
stamping on
| the another:-(
|
| When I flew I did most of the radio calls with ground,
tower, approach
| including La Gomera. There were no problems and their
English was
| pretty good (100% better than my Spanish!).
|
| I have flown either solo or with an instructor in a number
of coutries
| with no problems (Finland, Spain, Portugal, Canada, USA,
New Zealand,
| Bahamas, St. Lucia). Any problems have been due to local
procedures or
| names. e.g. the Hawaiian language has very few letters and
| pronunciation of place names is interesting.
|
| To be honest I've found some of the UK Military very poor
and I've
| sometimes reported difficuly copying, but that's usually
been due to
| distortion on their transmission.

"Ramapriya" wrote in message

Have anyone of you had a problem with the accents of various ATC chaps
around the world?

Is this a trivial problem, considering the standard phraseology in use
in ATC communications, or can it lead to something worse?

The myriad accents are exactly why standardized phraseology is important in
international ops. I personally think a lot of folks get overly anal about
it in domestic use, but that's just my opinion.

There were some places I had to work at understanding ATC, but the only
place I had a real problem was Cairo. I have a devil of a time
understanding an Egyptian speaking English. Similar difficulty in other
areas of northeast Africa, but Cairo was the worst, for me. Another problem
of a different kind was in Saudi Arabia. Many of their controllers refused
to answer the radio for a female pilot. Welcome to the fourteenth century!

Quick story re standardized language: We used to fuel stop in Khabarovsk
enroute HKG-ANC. In the early 90s, we were among the first Americans to
regularly use the port commercially after the USSR collapse, and the Russian
ATC guys were not all that proficient at English, particularly if you had to
go non-standard. On one of our first trips in, we called approaching
Russian airspace, but we were quite a bit earlier than schedule (the
vagaries of the cargo world). The Russian on the ground replied,
laboriously churning out the unfamiliar words " _________, why are you
here?" To my American pop-culture ears, raised in the 50s and 60s US of A,
he sounded for all the world like Boris Badenov!!!! I couldn't help myself.
Grabbing the mike, I put on my best, deep, gutteral accent and said,
"...Looking for moose and squirrel!"

The poor son of a gun on the ground had no idea what we were saying, and the
four of us in the office were incapacitated laughing for a good 2 or 3
minutes. I've often wondered how close we came to getting escorted or shot
at!!

"Bob Moore" wrote in message

We, at PanAm, didn't have all that much of a problem.


I'd be willing to bet that in the glory days of PanAm, many countries made
damn sure their best english speaker was on duty when you guys were
scheduled in. Hell, when I was in the mid-east in the AF, hundreds of
people from surrounding villages used to come to the airport 3 days a week
just to watch your 707 come and go.

"John Gaquin" wrote
I'd be willing to bet that in the glory days of PanAm, many
countries made damn sure their best english speaker was on duty
when you guys were scheduled in. Hell, when I was in the
mid-east in the AF, hundreds of people from surrounding villages
used to come to the airport 3 days a week just to watch your 707
come and go.

Ah yes...the glory days at PanAm. I joined PanAm toward the end
of those great times. The PanAm ticket office in any city served
as a quasi-embassy for those requiring assistance while traveling.
It was a real privelage for an African ruler to have his daughter
serve as a PanAm "stewardess". A PanAm I.D. card would get you
anything that you needed anywhere in the world. Great Days!!
Flying at PanAm was a life style, not just stick and rudder flying.

Bob Moore
PanAm 1967-1991 (retired)

Can't think of a personal experience, but I'm sure it has happened.

The Monk