hard to understand traffic calls?

Rudy

Rudy

Line Up and Wait
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Feb 23, 2005
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Rudy
OK,
Me and my twin brother went flying today he is just about at the solo x-country stage and he is going to make his flight to KIDP. He wanted me to take him there first. About 15 miles out of KPTS on the way home i radioed in just to let anyone around know. A guy with heavy, i believe Asian accent came on and i heard "Pittsburg Traffic" but couldn't understand the rest,(granted there was a little static) i asked him to repeat and still couldn't quite understand. I just kept saying my position, because i didn't want to sound rude! Is that the right way to handle a situation like this or should i keep asking until i understand??
 
Ron Levy said:
Keep asking until you understand -- rudeness ain't the issue -- safety is.
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Ok thanks, i hadn't ever ran into that before!
Always learning!
 
Rudy said:
OK,
Me and my twin brother went flying today he is just about at the solo x-country stage and he is going to make his flight to KIDP. He wanted me to take him there first. About 15 miles out of KPTS on the way home i radioed in just to let anyone around know. A guy with heavy, i believe Asian accent came on and i heard "Pittsburg Traffic" but couldn't understand the rest,(granted there was a little static) i asked him to repeat and still couldn't quite understand. I just kept saying my position, because i didn't want to sound rude! Is that the right way to handle a situation like this or should i keep asking until i understand??
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Ask 'em to talk slower, especially ATC, which has an annoying habit of their minds going faster than their lips. Usually they're great, but when we hear a bad one it's sometimes unbelievable.

The worst one, another CFII and I BOTH asked her 3 times to repeat slower and although it was eventually improved in clarity (which was replaced by more than an equal amount of snittiness) we really, sincerely had to ask ourselves, "How did that person EVER get that ATC position ?!?"
 
Rudy said:
Ok thanks, i hadn't ever ran into that before!
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The more you fly, the more you'll hear it.

Phoenix is a heavy training area for airline wannabees. A LOT of them are foreign born. Some speak English better than us natives while others are on the edge of unintelligible without a microphone and the background noise, never mind across a radio. It's very frustrating to hear a controller ask four or five times for 'unintelligible, please repeat'. I imagine it's more frustrating for the controller.
 
Brian Austin said:
The more you fly, the more you'll hear it.
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Yeah i figured it wasn't too uncommon! I willl just ask to please repeat slower next time! Thanks
 
There used to be a controller at SDF that no one could understand. Enough "say agains" and "confirm clearances", and his supervisors must have figured out the problem wasn't with the pilots this time. The guy is still on the air, but he is much more understandable.
 
What CFI's are allowing the foreigners up in the air? Do they ignore the following reg? Same goes for the DE's.


§ 61.83/103 Eligibility requirements for student/private pilots.

To be eligible for a student/private pilot certificate, an applicant must:

(c) Be able to read, speak, write, and understand the English language. If the applicant is unable to meet one of these requirements due to medical reasons, then the Administrator may place such operating limitations on that applicant's pilot certificate as are necessary for the safe operation of the aircraft.

Learn the language. I could never be ATC, if I had to ask a pilot to repeat himself more than once because of an accent, I would be telling him "Radar service terminated, squawk 1200, stay clear of my airspace, and copy this number and call when you land somewhere far from here."
 
We got a bunch of 'em here too at my home field. Some are good, some are completely unintelligeble on the radio and do not seem to understand their clearances many times. The school teaches them to fly in some very weird ways, like huge, LOW patterns in the 152-172's.

I can't tell you how frustrating it is to be #2 behind the 152 on 2 mile final, looking for these guys everywhere and finally seeing them more than a mile out, at about 300 feet.

Someone said it is some kind of deal for foreign training standards - I think they just teach poo to these guys.
 
Ed, is says what it says but I gotta say after flying in CA's central valley I think it is not very strictly enforced, if at all. Which is a tragedy since proper comm is so important.

BFL is the worst I've ever heard because of the large amount of foriegn students.
 
larrysb said:
We got a bunch of 'em here too at my home field. Some are good, some are completely unintelligeble on the radio and do not seem to understand their clearances many times. The school teaches them to fly in some very weird ways, like huge, LOW patterns in the 152-172's.

I can't tell you how frustrating it is to be #2 behind the 152 on 2 mile final, looking for these guys everywhere and finally seeing them more than a mile out, at about 300 feet.

Someone said it is some kind of deal for foreign training standards - I think they just teach poo to these guys.
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Oh yeah, they're using the Cessnas to teach the 747 pattern. Knowing where to look...that's if everything is going smoothly, one lil hiccup and it's a flying circus.
 
A real treat is to fly into Napa (KAPC) where Japan Airlines has a training facility. The tower does a fantastic job understanding some of the pilots.
 
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