This incident happened in 2013 in
Boston, USA. The JAL pilot appears to
have strong English.
The controller is empathetic and
accommodates her rate of speech
well
The communication goes well until
Boston Command asks, “All
passengers are all set?”.
This well known interaction between
an Air China pilot and a New York JFK
controller happened in 2006.
The pilot’s English is problematic - his
pronunciation is challenging. He also
appears to confuse ‘MIKE ALPHA’ with
‘NOVEMBER’ which seems puzzling.
AIR CHINA 981 - JFK
This accident happened in 1990. An
Avianca Boeing 707 ran out of fuel after
a failed attempt to land at JFK airport in
New York. 73 people died.
The flight crew failed to properly declare
a fuel emergency. When asked by ATC if
they had enough fuel the pilot replied, "I
guess so, thank you very much."
In 1996 a Boeing 747 and an Ilyushin
Il-76 collided killing 349 people.
The report ascribed the cause to the
lack of English language skills on the
part of the Kazakhstani aircraft pilots.
Although the Etihad pilot seems to have
good English, communication with the
US controller breaks down badly.
In this incident in Hawaii, the pilot and
the controller are both native-English
speakers.
The controller seems somewhat
unhelpful and the pilot needs to press
in order to receive the information he
requires.
Incident and
accidents
7
In 2006, Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight
1907 (a Boeing 737-800 ) collided with
and business jet over the Brazilian
state of Mato Grosso. The Legacy was
being flown by American pilots and
the 737 was operated by Brazilian
pilots.
This accident occurred in 1977 and is
the deadliest accident in aviation
history.
Both planes were confused over
which exit to take (third or first). The
Pan Am flight crew began questioning
the controller (“Maybe he meant
Charlie 4?”)
Non Standard Phraseology and a US
controller who lacks empathy and
seems tired and in a bad mood.
Some of his messages are also
unnecessarily wordy.
In 1972, BEA Flight 548 crashed in the
UK. The aircraft suffered a deep stall
in the third minute of its flight.
The co-pilots’ reluctance to speak out
was possibly influenced by an
argument involving the pilot before
the flight.
BRITISH EUROPEAN AIRWAYS
A contributing factor to this 1989
accident was the non-ICAO
phraseology used by Kuala Lumpur
air traffic control and the Captain of
the aircraft.
This breakdown of communication
contributed to the crew
misinterpreting the instructions given.
FLYING TIGERS 66
English language ability and inaccurate
readback / hearback play vital parts in
this incident.
Even when the controller explained
that the aircraft had taken off from the
wrong runway, the Avianca pilot still
appears to be unclear about what had
happened.
AVIANCA (MIAMI)
Here, empathy helped to avert a
problem.
The Avianca pilot shows admirable
regard for a Lufthansa pilot.
"Give priority to that Lufthansa (...),
he can't understand you and isn't
familiar with the airport and doesn't
know what to do".
CALI
The American controller becomes
increasingly impatient. She ignores
EVA’s request for a heading
confirmation and, instead of using
standard phraseology, ‘Turn right,
heading xxx’, asks patronisingly, “EVA
015 heavy, what are you doing?”
EVA 015
AA965 crashed into a mountain in
Colombia in 1995.
Following the enquiry, the Colombian
air traffic controller said he believed
that some of the requests of the
pilots did not make sense, but he did
not know enough non-aviation
English to convey this.
american airlines 965
Confusion over a closed runway
caused this crash in 1986.
The radio operator misunderstood
the controller’s message; the other
crew members did not notice the
error because of their lack of English.
AEROFLOT 892
In 1972, North Central Airlines Flight
575 and Delta Air Lines Flight 954
collided on a runway at O'Hare
International Airport in Chicago, USA.
Ten people died
CHICAGO 1972
Deviation from Standard Phraseology,
poor clarification strategies, speed of
speech and overly-complex language
(“I’m being told that your nose gear
appears to be in the wrong position”)
play a part in this incident.
TAM 8078
21
13
14
18
4
16
15
19
5
This accident occurred in 2009.
The investigation determined that the
accident was caused by the
inappropriate actions of the crew that
led to a stall. Again, language and
‘assertiveness’ were contributing
factors.
YEMEMIA 626
12
A selection of incidents / accidents where language has been a factor
This incident happened in 2013 in Boston,
USA. The JAL pilot appears to have strong
English.
The controller is empathetic and
accommodates her rate of speech well.
The communication goes well until Boston
Command asks, “All passengers are all
set?”
This well known interaction between an
Air China pilot and a New York JFK
controller happened in 2006.
The pilot’s English is problematic - his
pronunciation is challenging. He also
appears to confuse ‘MIKE ALPHA’ with
‘NOVEMBER’ which seems puzzling.
AIR CHINA 981 - JFK
This accident happened in 1990. An
Avianca Boeing 707 ran out of fuel after
a failed attempt to land at JFK airport in
New York. 73 people died.
The flight crew failed to properly declare
a fuel emergency. When asked by ATC if
they had enough fuel the pilot replied, "I
guess so, thank you very much."
In 1996 a Boeing 747 and an Ilyushin Il-76
collided killing 349 people.
The report ascribed the cause to the lack
of English language skills on the part of
the Kazakhstani aircraft pilots.
Although the Etihad pilot seems to have
good English, communication with the US
controller breaks down badly.
In this incident in Hawaii, the pilot and the
controller are both native-English
speakers.
The controller seems somewhat unhelpful
and the pilot needs to press in order to
receive the information he requires.
7
In 2006, Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight
1907 (a Boeing 737-800 ) collided with
and business jet over the Brazilian
state of Mato Grosso. The Legacy was
being flown by American pilots and
the 737 was operated by Brazilian
pilots.
This accident occurred in 1977 and is
the deadliest accident in aviation
history.
Both planes were confused over
which exit to take (third or first). The
Pan Am flight crew began questioning
the controller (“Maybe he meant
Charlie 4?”)
Non Standard Phraseology and a US
controller who lacks empathy and
seems tired and in a bad mood.
Some of his messages are also
unnecessarily wordy.
In 1972, BEA Flight 548 crashed in the
UK. The aircraft suffered a deep stall
in the third minute of its flight.
The co-pilots’ reluctance to speak out
was possibly influenced by an
argument involving the pilot before
the flight.
BRITISH EUROPEAN AIRWAYS
A contributing factor to this 1989
accident was the non-ICAO
phraseology used by Kuala Lumpur
air traffic control and the Captain of
the aircraft.
This breakdown of communication
contributed to the crew
misinterpreting the instructions given.
FLYING TIGERS 66
English language ability and inaccurate
readback / hearback play vital parts in
this incident.
Even when the controller explained
that the aircraft had taken off from the
wrong runway, the Avianca pilot still
appears to be unclear about what had
happened.
AVIANCA (MIAMI)
Here, empathy helped to avert a
problem.
The Avianca pilot shows admirable
regard for a Lufthansa pilot.
"Give priority to that Lufthansa (...),
he can't understand you and isn't
familiar with the airport and doesn't
know what to do".
CALI
The American controller becomes
increasingly impatient. She ignores
EVA’s request for a heading
confirmation and, instead of using
standard phraseology, ‘Turn right,
heading xxx’, asks patronisingly, “EVA
015 heavy, what are you doing?”
EVA 015
AA965 crashed into a mountain in
Colombia in 1995.
Following the enquiry, the Colombian
air traffic controller said he believed
that some of the requests of the
pilots did not make sense, but he did
not know enough non-aviation
English to convey this.
american airlines 965
Confusion over a closed runway
caused this crash in 1986.
The radio operator misunderstood
the controller’s message; the other
crew members did not notice the
error because of their lack of English.
AEROFLOT 892
In 1972, North Central Airlines Flight
575 and Delta Air Lines Flight 954
collided on a runway at O'Hare
International Airport in Chicago, USA.
Ten people died.
CHICAGO 1972
Deviation from Standard Phraseology,
poor clarification strategies, speed of
speech and overly-complex language
(“I’m being told that your nose gear
appears to be in the wrong position”)
play a part in this incident.
TAM 8078
21
13
14
18
4
16
15
19
5
This accident occurred in 2009.
The investigation determined that the
accident was caused by the
inappropriate actions of the crew that
led to a stall. Again, language and
‘assertiveness’ were contributing
factors.
YEMEMIA 626
12
Incident and
accidents
A selection of incidents / accidents
where language has been a factor
