Foreign accents on the radio

I estimate between 5 and 10%.

To me the most important thing in the rocket travel is the blast-off. I always take a blast before I take off. Otherwise, I would not go near that thing.
And how many only know it because of its inclusion in the movie, "The Right Stuff"?

Ron "Is that your crash helmet?" Wanttaja
 
My pet peave are those...on a non-towered airport with a single 2,500-foot runway...who feel that the world needs to know they are taxiing to the fuel pumps, or to hangar row G, or whatnot. Look out the darn window, for heck's sake, and coordinate with other aircraft if necessary.

I suspect this is a holdover from operating from towered airports.
Sounds like they are being taught correctly. I learned at a towered field, but my CFI taught me to to do ground announcements when needed.

So to start with we did ALL the announcements. Then as time went on, you decided if they were necessary, like for the airport that there is on In/Out to the ramp and you can't see the ends of the taxiway. So did I miss someone that landed while I was going through my startup procedure and I'm just about to start taxiing out and end up face to face with no place for either of us to get out of the way?

And to take your not making ground calls, I went into KOGA one time on a X-US trip and was doing the "standard" calls of 10 out, entering DW, turning Base when this other other voice comes on from a plane that I had heard make one call in DW with something like we don't need to hear all your stupid calls. Obviously it was one of those "say what" moments and I asked are you a CFI and was that other voice your student. He actually said yes and my reply was "hey student, you really need to find another instructor." At which point some other pilot came on and said "listen to what he's saying, find another instructor." So lack of teaching the basic principals can get stretched to more than not making ground calls when you should. (But agree that sometimes you don't need to make ALL the ground calls. :D)
 
And to take your not making ground calls, I went into KOGA one time on a X-US trip and was doing the "standard" calls of 10 out, entering DW, turning Base when this other other voice comes on from a plane that I had heard make one call in DW with something like we don't need to hear all your stupid calls. Obviously it was one of those "say what" moments and I asked are you a CFI and was that other voice your student. He actually said yes and my reply was "hey student, you really need to find another instructor."

Good response. The only thing worse than dumb radio calls are self appointed radio police. F those guys.
 
And to take your not making ground calls, I went into KOGA one time on a X-US trip and was doing the "standard" calls of 10 out, entering DW, turning Base when this other other voice comes on from a plane that I had heard make one call in DW with something like we don't need to hear all your stupid calls. Obviously it was one of those "say what" moments and I asked are you a CFI and was that other voice your student. He actually said yes and my reply was "hey student, you really need to find another instructor." At which point some other pilot came on and said "listen to what he's saying, find another instructor." So lack of teaching the basic principals can get stretched to more than not making ground calls when you should. (But agree that sometimes you don't need to make ALL the ground calls. :D)
I love that story!

I had a kind of opposite version happen to me. I'm taxiing back to take off from a local airport, and I heard a guy make all the right calls, but he sounded kinda nervous, almost scared. I had plenty of time to get out before he came in, but I didn't want to stress him out, so I just said "hey this is Cherokee XYZ, I'll hold here at the line and wait for you, no rush at all", and I hear another voice say "hey is that XYZ still at ABC airport? I had my first solo in that plane". There were only two of us at the airport, not quite appropriate but we had a little chat. Anyway, turns out the non-nervous guy was a DPE, and the other was on his private checkride. So I apologized for talking too much, and the guy flying, much calmer now, announced and made a nice landing.

I signal before I turn when it's 3am, too. Just easier to always do it the same way, doesn't cost anything.
 
I love that story!

I had a kind of opposite version happen to me. I'm taxiing back to take off from a local airport, and I heard a guy make all the right calls, but he sounded kinda nervous, almost scared. I had plenty of time to get out before he came in, but I didn't want to stress him out, so I just said "hey this is Cherokee XYZ, I'll hold here at the line and wait for you, no rush at all", and I hear another voice say "hey is that XYZ still at ABC airport? I had my first solo in that plane". There were only two of us at the airport, not quite appropriate but we had a little chat. Anyway, turns out the non-nervous guy was a DPE, and the other was on his private checkride. So I apologized for talking too much, and the guy flying, much calmer now, announced and made a nice landing.

I signal before I turn when it's 3am, too. Just easier to always do it the same way, doesn't cost anything.

Also good response. Adding stress is almost never the right response in flight.
 
I learned radio procedure as a CAP cadet (anyone else use Gonsets?), and the training was pretty rigorous. Ensure proper use of "Roger", "Over," "Out," etc. One of the biggest things was NOT to use the radio for "chitchat."

So even today, I tend to grind my teeth when someone is using CTAF to discuss their golf game, or whatever. Yet, I am occasionally guilty. Had a chat with a Champ pilot last week about our respective planes.

Ron "Where's that petard?" Wanttaja
 
I learned radio procedure as a CAP cadet (anyone else use Gonsets?), and the training was pretty rigorous. Ensure proper use of "Roger", "Over," "Out," etc. One of the biggest things was NOT to use the radio for "chitchat."

So even today, I tend to grind my teeth when someone is using CTAF to discuss their golf game, or whatever. Yet, I am occasionally guilty. Had a chat with a Champ pilot last week about our respective planes.

Ron "Where's that petard?" Wanttaja

Oh man, I want to yell NERD every time I hear "tree" on the radio.
 
Every time I hear someone say "It's niner!" on the radio, I want to reply with "da!"
 
My pet peeve is saying o on the radio instead of zero. Years ago I had a young FO that said it again after a few warnings and I reached over and slapped his arm and said it is ZERO! O is a letter Zero is a number. Several years later after he was flying as captain, he called me and said I slapped my FO's, arm, today because he was not saying Zero. FYI, we were good friends and still are. I was best man at his dad's wedding.
 
My pet peave are those...on a non-towered airport with a single 2,500-foot runway...who feel that the world needs to know they are taxiing to the fuel pumps, or to hangar row G, or whatnot. Look out the darn window, for heck's sake, and coordinate with other aircraft if necessary.

I suspect this is a holdover from operating from towered airports.
This is being taught by the schools at some of those airports. I'm not sure why, but I have seen this first-hand.
 
I notice that the OP is in McMinnville, Oregon. Perhaps he's not aware that the nearby Hillsboro Aviation trains many many foreign students, mostly from Asia (and has done for as long as I've been in aviation, going on 40 years). It's not surprising that that means a lot of people flying for whom English is a second language, and are at the same time struggling to learn proper aviation communications. I wouldn't say that it's something the FAA needs to fix, and it is definitely good for the airport and the local economy.
 
This is being taught by the schools at some of those airports. I'm not sure why, but I have seen this first-hand.

I think the school logic is better to teach them to over-communicate than under, until they gain enough experience to judge for themselves. Plus, for those going into the airline environment, they aren't going to move without telling someone, so might as well get in the habit early. Like wearing epaulettes.
 
Another vote to adopt the Midwestern dialect as the radio standard. Along with promoting these popular Midwestern phrases into universally taught and accepted radio phraseology:

"Yeah, no" = negative / unable to comply
"No, yeah" = affirmative

That should make radio comms more seamless for us.
No - Boston is best - “I left my cah keys in my Khaki’s”.
 
No - Boston is best - “I left my cah keys in my Khaki’s”.
There was a furor in Boston a few years back. A lot of local crows were getting killed by trucks, but not by cars.

Turns out to be related to the crows' vocal abilities used to warn other birds in the flock. A Boston crow can say, "Caw", but not "Truck".....

Ron Wanttaja
 
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Sorry but you Boston posters are missing using the F-bomb as a verb, noun and adjective in every sentence and perhaps throwing in a reference to Dunkin at the same time.
 
Sorry but you Boston posters are missing using the F-bomb as a verb, noun and adjective in every sentence and perhaps throwing in a reference to Dunkin at the same time.

been to boston lately?
 
....I spend maybe a week or so in Boston every year, and I don't get it. The funny accent? Get it. Everyone driving like they're trying to escape from kidnappers? Get it. Bicycles coming at you like you're in a French movie? Get it. But I don't get the swearing or doughnut reference.
 
https....I spend maybe a week or so in Boston every year, and I don't get it. The funny accent? Get it. Everyone driving like they're trying to escape from kidnappers? Get it. Bicycles coming at you like you're in a French movie? Get it. But I don't get the swearing or doughnut reference.
The area has gentrified a lot since I grew up there. But this guy still exists in the working class neighborhoods

 
This is being taught by the schools at some of those airports. I'm not sure why, but I have seen this first-hand.

Our local school started this a couple of years ago and it metastasized to the nearby fields:mad:

We have one taxiway and one runway ... but they'll announced charlie, echo and golf used to get to the alpha taxiway ... and then the student finishing their lesson exiting the runway will do the same in reverse. With multiple training aircraft, this gets real annoying FAST as that path is only used to the school and expensive jet guys.
 
My friend's Texas accent, combined with his incredibly slow delivery can make radio calls interesting. I was flying with him once when a controller told him, "Ok cowboy, gonna need to speed up your calls just a little bit!" He laughed and let me take over the radio.

Had an old Braniff Captain, tell the LGA controller one time, "Son you need to sloooooow doooown. I Can't heaaaaar as fast as you can Taaaaaalk."
 
I knew one C152 pilot that was pretty good at impressions and would answer every radio call with a different accent. After a while, ATC would ask "say number souls aboard".
There's a guy on Boston VATSIM who will do that occasionally. He'll usually live stream when he does. Last time I saw him, he was running tower for KFMH which is the Coast Guard Air Station on Cape Cod. Great fun, that guy!
 
I think it's the students that do that at my home field. I suspect they're teaching them how to operated in a towered field for something but when there are 4 folks in the pattern we sure don't need to hear it. I did fly out of a field that had a hump in the two-way taxiway so you couldn't see the other end. It made sense there.
Weird. I don’t make any traffic calls at a towered field unless instructed to do so. That school must be full of people that know everything.
 
Under ICAO there is "English Proficiency" and the various member states have different ways to test and certify for it. I hold an "English Proficiency Level 5" certificate which is a native born speaker.
Actually level 6 is native fluency. Level 5 is professional proficiency with occasional errors - which to be fair is probably appropriate for the funny version of English you American fellas speak ;)
 
Actually level 6 is native fluency. Level 5 is professional proficiency with occasional errors - which to be fair is probably appropriate for the funny version of English you American fellas speak ;)

Correct. I dug out the certificate and looked at it.

I studied hard for that test.
 
Weird. I don’t make any traffic calls at a towered field unless instructed to do so. That school must be full of people that know everything.
:) I don't either, unless I'm on the ground and don't know where to park.
Actually level 6 is native fluency. Level 5 is professional proficiency with occasional errors - which to be fair is probably appropriate for the funny version of English you American fellas speak ;)
We're perfectly understandable. The fun discussions are when folks from your island and that island with the flightless birds start talking after a couple of beers. It's hard to follow the language, but it's entertaining to watch.
 
ah yes, two countries separated by a common language
 
I did my PPL at Napa County Airport (KAPC.) At the time, JAL had their training center there, which was a fleet of A36 Bonanzas and a couple King Airs, all painted up in JAL colors. They wanted Japanese pilots. So they shipped them over here, and trained them from the ground up to MEI, all at that facility.

English fluency levels were all over the board, and when the "Bonanza Boys" would start soloing, they would all come back to the airport about the same time, driving the tower absolutely nuts at times. More than once I've had to stay clear of Class D until the tower operators could get the JAL trainees sorted out.

That said, I think this thread should be subtitled "Elmer Fudd takes pilot lessons."
 
I heard Rod Machado tell the story-probably true, but he was doing a comedy set at one of the old AOPA regional fly-ins—about flying with a Asian student with a very heavy accent. They were approaching a towered field, and after several back-and-forths with the student, the tower clearly didn’t understand him. Tower asked ‘is there an instructor on board with you?’ Machado keyed the mike and replied in a very exaggerated accent ‘oooo, I instructor!’
 
Another vote to adopt the Midwestern dialect as the radio standard. Along with promoting these popular Midwestern phrases into universally taught and accepted radio phraseology:

"Yeah, no" = negative / unable to comply
"No, yeah" = affirmative

That should make radio comms more seamless for us.

"Yeah, yeah" <- NY for "no"
"Da da da" <- Russian for "no"
"Yeah yeah yeah, no no no" <- Midwest for... something
 
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