Brendan Moore

Professor Sara Thames

ENC 1102

23 October 2020

How to talk and fly: The Necessary parts of Aviation Communication

Research Question

What rhetorical functions need to be completed in order for aviation pilots to

communicate effectively (using aviation english), and how can multilingual speakers achieve

them?

Aviation Communication is the discourse between airplane pilots and other pilots or air

traffic controllers. This Communication is mostly verbal and used to convey important

information necessary to the flight of the plane. The study of aviation communication has played

an important role in furthering the effectiveness of information relayed during piloting. This

improvement has cut down on miscommunications between pilots and air traffic controllers and

thus improved flight efficiency and decreased human error in the aviation industry. Human error

that could result in a plane crash and loss of human life. So to look at how best to reduce those

human errors and possibly save lives the following experiment looks at the most common cause

of those miscommunications in the aviation industry and outlines what is most importantly

needed to effectively communicate and eliminate miscommunications, thus correcting some of

the human error in aviation as a result of communication. As a student aspiring to be an airplane

pilot I believe that it is important to push the aviation industry in a better direction, and my
research should also put me in a position to learn more about the aviation industry and hopefully

make me a better pilot in the future as well.

Review of Literature

Aviation english is an international form of communication used between pilots and air

traffic controllers to communicate with each other and relay important information. Many

accidents have occurred through miscommunication and human error, some resulting in the loss

of human life. In the scholarly conversation of aviation english many scholarly articles have been

published researching what can be done to contribute to the effectiveness of the international

industry and the minimization of different types of miscommunications and human error; as well

as the factors that lead to those problems. The main problems that I have come to realize through

my research of secondary sources in the discourse community is how best to standardize aviation

english as a lingua franca and which areas of failure are the most important causes of

miscommunication. In the secondary sources I researched I found that the most common errors

occur when non-native english speakers have misinterpreted or failed to properly convey a

message whether it was a pilot or air traffic controller the language barrier causes problems. The

source “Pronunciation and Comprehension in English as a Lingua Franca Communication:

Effect of L1 Influence in International Aviation Communication.” looks at english as a lingua

franca and examines the communication and comprehension of the language for international

pilots and air traffic controllers. The author goes on to say how proper communication between

the two is imperative for a successful flight but since they are international there can be conflicts

between pronunciation of words making it more challenging to understand the message which

may result in a major accident (Kim and Billington). This source focuses on how the message is

transmitted depending on the people communicating it as opposed to focusing on the content of

Misunderstandings in Aviation Communication.”. This source talks about the content of the

messages transmitted and the effects of linguistic properties and message length on

misunderstandings in aviation communication. In his scholarly article he analyses the

components of natural language (message length, speech rate, and tone) by using recordings of

flight communications. He discusses how message length is the most common factor leading

human error in aviation communication (Barshi). The first and second source both highlight the

different points that need to be achieved for effective communication. The next source “What

Constitutes Professional Communication in Aviation: Is Language Proficiency Enough for

Testing Purposes?”, also by Hyejeong Kim, discusses the key aspects of professional

communication between pilots and air traffic controllers. Through their analysis the author

identifies “key standard phases in radiotelephony which are: Initiate, Present information, and

accept Information” as the three stages of communication between the two (Kim). All three of

the previous sources are important because if the receiver of the message can not remember the

message there will be a problem, and there will also be a problem if the sender of the message

speaks differently and the receiver can not even understand the message, and finally there can be

miscommunication if the sender fails to follow the three phases of communication. This shows

the need for an international standardized understanding of the lingua franca which each country

must hold their students up to the same standards. “Enhancing Pilot’s Aviation English Learning,

Attitude and Motivation through the Application of Content and Language Integrated Learning.”

by Parvin Karimi shows how english is used to teach other non-language aviation courses and

how effective this type of content and language integrated learning motivates the students to

learn. Karimi’s study shows how through the teaching of aviation students in this manner they
will be motivated to not only learn the content of the course more, but also the language it is

taught through. The author also says how using English as the main language since “it is the

language of science and technology will also give students access to different references and

documents” (Karimi 751). However this raises the question on how much it is ethically okay to

limit someone's language? This partially erases their identity and cultural background

introducing prejudices in the aviation community. This problem is addressed in “Should Writers

Use They Own English?” which raises the problem and ethical dilemma (Young). Then another

source (“Nobody Seems to Speak English Here Today: Enhancing Assessment and Training in

Aviation English.”) that I researched following the discovery of this dilemma addresses the topic

too, and, I believe answers the question. It states that the pilots and air traffic controllers should

be required to at least meet the standard of “interactional competence” which means a level of

understanding and communication where you can effectively communicate at a professional

level within the topic of aviation (Douglas).

My research question examines all the main aspects of miscommunication outlined by

these secondary sources and compares them since they fail to acknowledge the other problems

covered in different sources and each only analyses one aspect of miscommunication in aviation

communication. This lack of a broader research area is why the other scholarly articles don’t

illuminate which factors are the most important aspects of aviation communication in order to

reach interactional competence. Which is why I examined multiple factors of miscommunication

and thus highlighting what is the bare minimum to effectively communicate in the aviation

industry.
Methodology

For my research I conducted interviews with local pilots about their experiences with

miscommunication and the most common types of misunderstandings that occur in the aviation

industry and what lead to them. I recorded the interviews over the phone calls where I asked

them questions to bring any occurrences of error they might have experienced as pilots and to get

down to what the cause of it. I interviewed four different people involved in Aviation

Communication. Logan Johnson, Is a private pilot and teacher at a flight institution, Dave Razler

is a professional airline pilot flying for a large company, and then I interviewed Danielle Aycock

and Mike Marsiano. Danielle is an Air traffic controller and her boyfriend Mike is also a

professional pilot who specializes in technological advances in the field. During our interviews

all four of them gave a good overview of the errors in communication in the aviation industry as

they all come from a different aspect of industry. Then their answers were analyzed and coded to

find out which factors caused the miscommunication to occur and what the source of the

miscommunication was.

I also analyzed multiple collected reports and reviews about events relating specifically to

miscommunication that resulted in an accident by using the National Transportation Safety

Board’s Aviation Accident Database & Synopses to find the flight reports of any incidents and

accidents from when the database started to -2010 in which miscommunication was a factor. I

then used CAROL (Case Analysis and Reporting Online) , also a database run by the National

Transportation Safety Board, to get the accident reports and dockets from an accident also due to

any error in communication. Both of these databases give factual information on the accident as

well as a final description of the accident and it’s probable cause. I combed through each report

about the events of the flight and what the pilot's account of the flight was to discern the main
 causes of the human error in communication. Then I recorded the aspects of proper

communication that were lacking in those incidents to draw similarities between the errors and

generalize the main aspect of communication that was most absent and lead to the accident.

Results

While conducting the interviews I saw that most errors the pilots I interviewed were

having trouble with people who did not speak english as their first language. A lot of the time

they had trouble comprehending their accents and what they were saying. The Educational

standards of the aviation industry was also a problem according to the interviewees. Another big

problem was that a lot of the time pilots don't practice active listening whether it's because they

get distracted or they just stop listening as they believe they know everything already. Also all of

the people interviewed highlighted how the majority of errors of communication does get fixed

through feedback so the lack of that feedback is also a big source for human errors in aviation.

The coding of the transcripts showed how these four themes were brought out in every interview.

Interviews

Codes Logan Johnson Dave Rasler Danielle Aycock Mike Marsiano

Active Logan talked about Dave Talked about As an ATC Danielle Mike agreed with
Listening how when he first how easily pilots can said how “The Danielle saying that
started flying and get distracted. Saying biggest “to have successful
failed to listen to the multiple things are misunderstanding” communications
ATC when taking off happening at once and would be pilots active listening is a
from the airport and if an emergency anticipating what she very important part of
almost flew into an warning or your is going to say and that, It doesn't matter
United States Airforce copilot says something not listening to the how good the
base by not continuing you can get distracted message and then just information is if the
to listen to the ATC and mishear what the repeating back what receiver is not
and failing to be ATC said; this is how they wanted to hear listening to it” and
actively listening and people can commonly or thought would be without active
 this caused him to turn lose track of the right. She attributed listening then the
the complete wrong information and end this error to being communication is
direction. up 1000ft below the distracted or a lack of pointless.
altitude they are planning.
supposed to be at.

Foriegn Logan said how he had Dave talked a lot about Danielle said that Mike described the
language many foriegn students how foriegn language when talking to hardest part when
speakers who had harsh accents speakers usually talk foriegn language speaking to foriegn
and could actually in english but if they speakers is really language speakers as
understand him but he are in their own common in her line “Accent and
struggled to country they will of work as America pronunciation mostly
understand what they speak their native offers better options for us trying to
were saying. language to other for training. She also understand them, and
pilots from there. Dave said that “so I often their overall
said that “you have a will miss hear call comprehension of the
whole deficit of signs for aircraft or language for them
information and big destinations and I being able to answer
picture that you would will say back what i questions beyond a
have if you understood hear and they won't simple yes or no
what they were saying correct me” question.”
to other aircraft” That
when everyone isn’t
speaking english the
pilots can feel almost
lost

Education Logan stated how he Dave said how the Danielle said that “I Mike said that ‘I don't
standards wanted for there to be international standard feel that there should think that's on the
a requirement for for education as far as be a little more flight instructors, but
pilots to have to talk to english goes is lacking on the programs or the
accountability on
the ATC while taking a lot and how the ATC schools themselves to
their piloting exam. have a very limited flight schools end” not take students who
And even described vocabulary and only when describing how can't speak.” when
that the standards to speak of the basic to fix the problem talking about what the
get into maintenance parts of their with non-native main fault in the
were really easy instructions using only english speakers. She educational aviation
saying “it's basically a common phraseology; also explained how standards were.
kindergarten’s test” which can lead to a
the flight school
when referencing the failure in
aptitude test and how communication. should take more
basically if they can responsibility if the
get in the institution student is ready to
would take their communicate by
money as a business. themselves.
Feed Logan actually Dave also said that the Danielle described Mike talked a lot
Back showed how that feedback that pilots how one pilot told her about how the
because he didn't relay give can sometimes that he was leaving technical side of
any feedback in his not be corrected. For from a certain airport radios can cause
flight to Saint Pete; example ATC will tell and she went to give feedback to not go
that didn't give the the pilot to take off on him clearance through and allow no
ATC any chance to runway 3-6-0 and if without checking one to respond if
relay that he needed to the pilot gives the back and repeating someone uses the
follow more ATC wrong feedback the airport to allow radios at the same
instructions, or that he but the ATC doesn’t the pilot to catch his time, as only one
misheard the ATC and respond and correct mistake himself and person can use the
needed to reroute him then they are both stop it there before radio at a time and
before getting right left in the dark someone else had to can't hear anything
next to an airforce thinking different deal with it. while using it.
base and getting in things.
trouble.

From the Databases I found out an analysis of what happened in each incident, the pilots account

of the events and, and a probable cause for each accident relating to a miscommunication.

Accident Database

Accident Analysis Pilot Account Probable Cause Error

IAD00L The passenger had never flown an open After getting the “The National The error in
A050 cockpit airplane. According to the pilot, passenger into the Transportation the flight was
there was no communication possible cockpit. "We took Safety Board the fact that
between his seat in the back and the off and I climbed to determines the the two pilots
passenger but he briefed his passenger approximately 1,500 probable cause(s) could not
prior to takeoff. He said that he would fly feet. I then let [the of this accident to communicate
the airplane to altitude and transition to passenger] fly the be: the pilot's during the
level flight, and then signal the pilot in aircraft from her failure to flight, I
the front to take the flight controls. The seat. She then made maintain control would
pilot said he surrendered the flight two 360-degree of the airplane. A attribute this
controls, and the airplane completed a turns and we factor in the to a lack of
series of 360-degree turns at varying descended down to accident was the planning as
altitudes. The airplane passed about 600 feet agl. pilot's failure to they had no
'dangerously close' to trees and buildings She continued to properly way to
before it flew under wires and struck descend. I realized brief/communicat communicate
terrain. After the accident, the pilot we were in trouble e transfer of the during the
reported that he was unclear as to whom, and the rest is a flight controls to flight in case
if anyone was on the controls at the time blur.” The pilot says the pilot-rated of emergency.
 of the accident. The pilot rated passenger that he was hesitant passenger.”
had no recollection of the flight or the to take controls back
accident.” from the passenger.

NYC97L The airplane encountered in-flight The captain stated “The National Miscommun
A155 turbulence and an aft cabin attendant was that he briefed the Transportation ication
injured.The captain ensured the seat belt cabin attendants In- Safety Board between the
sign was 'ON,' briefed the in-flight flight Director on determines the forward
director, and told the flight engineer to the expected probable cause(s) cabin
make sure the cabin attendants were weather and of this accident to attendant
seated. After securing a portion of her westerly rerouting be: Failure of the and the In-
galley, she only briefed the mid galley by Air Traffic aft flight attendant flight
cabin crew, and assumed that the in-flight Control. The captain to secure her seat director.
director had briefed the rest of the cabin stated that he belt. Related
crew. The in-flight director said by the suggested a 2 to 3 factors were
time the cockpit called to advise of hour delay in the turbulence in
moderate turbulence and to sit, it was too meal service due to clouds, and the
late extensive weather flight attendant not
along the east coast receiving the crew
of the United States. briefing.”

DCA08F During the descent into the terminal area No pilot account. The National The
A018 and initial approach, tailwinds of up to Transportation communicat
100 knots were affecting the flight and Safety Board -ion
the crew reported feeling rushed because determines the between the
of the high ground speed. The crew did probable cause(s) pilot and the
establish the airplane on the approach of this accident to first officer
course at the proper speed and altitude, be: the captain’s was not
however they did not perform a complete attempt to salvage concise
approach briefing. The first officer (FO) the landing from enough as
was the pilot flying, and had very little an instrument the
instrument approach experience in the approach which instructions
CRJ-200. Prior to making visual contact exceeded were
with the runway, the FO disengaged the stabilized misinterpret
autopilot and flight director, but only approach criteria, -ed during
mentioned the autopilot in his verbal resulting in a high the intense
callout. As the captain took control of the sink rate, likely situation
airplane, the FO misunderstood a stall, and hard when
statement by the captain and reduced landing which making an
power to idle without the captain’s exceeded the emergency
knowledge. The airplane developed a structural landing.
high sink rate and during the flare likely limitations of the
stalled, impacting the runway at a high airplane.Contribu
vertical rate. ting to the
accident was the
first officer’s
 poor execution of
the instrument
approach, and the
lack of effective
intra-cockpit
communication
between the crew

LAX04F During an attempted missed approach in No pilot account The probable Air traffic
A162 instrument meteorological conditions.The because he died in cause of this control
accident occurred while the pilot was the crash. accident: The failed to
returning home following a vacation. As pilot's loss of alert him to
the pilot approached the airport, a fog airplane control the changes
bank moved in and the local weather while in of the
conditions deteriorated. The VOR/GPS maneuvering due weather and
circling instrument approach procedure to spatial in result he
for the airport lists a minimum descent disorientation. had to make
altitude of 680 feet mean sea level (msl), Contributing an missed
with a 1-mile minimum visibility factors were the approach
requirement. The overcast ceiling was (fog), and the
400 feet above ground level (597 feet pilot's lack of
msl), and the visibility was 1 mile as the instrument flying
flight entered the terminal area. Near the currency. An
time that the pilot received his instrument additional factor
approach clearance, the visibility was the failure of
decreased to 1/2-mile and the ceiling air traffic control
lowered to 200 feet above ground level personnel to
(agl) (397 feet msl); however, that follow
information was not disseminated to the established
pilot by either the tower or approach Federal Aviation
controller.Radar data showed that the Administration
airplane was consistently left of course directives to
and the local tower controller advised the disseminate
pilot of that fact and asked him if he was updated weather
correcting back. About 0.4 miles from the information.
runway's end, the pilot advised the
controller that he was going around. The
pilot failed to adhere to the published
missed approach procedure. During the
next 1 to 2 minutes, the radar data showed
the airplane making 360 degree turns
about 0.5 miles from the runway until
descending with what ground witnesses
described as increasingly steep angles of
bank into a house.
Discussion
My results from the interviews show that a lot of different factors can lead to a failure to

communicate in aviation. The main factors affecting it being where or not the receiver is paying

attention and actively listening to the message to receive the information, whether or not the two

share a common background of communication and can effectively convey the information in

the message, and whether or not there is feedback that confirms if the message was received

appropriately. In the Interviews all the people working in the aviation industry stressed that the

Most important factor in effective communication is active listening causing the majority of

errors in the industry. Danielle said that “I see more often than not, pilots should listen better and

the portion of their communication that could be changed is either listening and not trying to rush

important communications” and that shows just how important active listening is. All of the Four

factors outlined in the interviews could have solved the problems that occured and led to

accidents above and prevented them from happening. In my interview with Dave Rasler he

pointed out how it is important for foriegn language speakers to stick to the common aviation

phraseology just as the source “What Constitutes Professional Communication in Aviation: Is

Language Proficiency Enough for Testing Purposes?”, by Hyejeong Kim, which also states the

important uses of “key standard phases in radiotelephony” which allow pilots and ATCs to

present information through the stages of communication “which are: Initiate, Present

information, and accept Information” (Hyejeong Kim), However unlike the sources I researched

many of the interviews also showed that without the use of feedback in communication then the

information can easily be misinterpreted and without a check on that information then it can still

result in an error. This brought in a factor necessary that I had not considered until conducting

my primary research. One of the factors I thought would get highlighted more which actually

was a smaller topic was from the source “Effects of Linguistic Properties and Message Length
on Misunderstandings in Aviation Communication.” which talks about the importance of the

components of natural language, and actually outlines message length as the most important

factor of all during aviation to eliminate error. This is surprising because the only topic I had

about it was mikes final statement in which he said “ I think the accurate and timely delivery of

that information is just as important, so being able to clearly communicate and do it in the

shortest amount of time possible” which completely supports the source but is the only data

gathered to support it. The other thing from my research is how the education system seems to be

lacking in the department of foriegn language speakers and how much they talk to ATC, but the

fact that I could find no flight incidents relevant to the error in communications it can cause must

be because as Dave Rasler “you can usually understand them most of the time and what they are

saying or at least figure out what they are saying with one question” which must mean It is not as

big of a problem of human error that leads to incidents but more just inconveniences, However

every interviewee stated a concern for their training and how it is imperative that the english

language education of forieng speaking aviation students must be increased and the majority of

them said that reaching “interactional competence” and having to take an exam to prove they can

reach it is very necessary and needs to be implemented. Just as the source “Nobody Seems to

Speak English Here Today: Enhancing Assessment and Training in Aviation English.” states it.

All pilots should be required to make “interaction competence”.

Conclusion

In conclusion the rhetorical functions that need to be completed in order for aviation pilots to

communicate effectively are the use of active listening when communicating with a common

background of understanding so the message can be relayed, and the usage of feedback to ensure
those messages are properly received and remembered. Also the standards for Aviation

education needs to be increased to make sure that proper english communication is being used at

all times while flying. Furthermore the effects of different types of teaching and standards on

pilots have yet to be examined and thus could bring even more promise in eliminating errors in

the aviation industry.

Bibliography

Kim, Hyejeong, and Rosey Billington. “Pronunciation and Comprehension in English as a

Lingua Franca Communication: Effect of L1 Influence in International Aviation

Communication.” Applied Linguistics, vol. 39, no. 2, Apr. 2018, pp. 135–158. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1174669&authtype=shib&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Barshi, Immanuel. Effects of Linguistic Properties and Message Length on

Misunderstandings in Aviation Communication. Order No. 9812849 University of Colorado

at Boulder, 1997 Ann ArborProQuest. 27 Sep. 2020 .

Kim, Hyejeong. “What Constitutes Professional Communication in Aviation: Is Language

Proficiency Enough for Testing Purposes?” Language Testing, vol. 35, no. 3, July 2018, pp.

403–426. EBSCOhost,

Karimi, Parvin, et al. “Enhancing Pilot’s Aviation English Learning, Attitude and

Motivation through the Application of Content and Language Integrated Learning.”

International Journal of Instruction, vol. 12, no. 1, Jan. 2019, pp. 751–766. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1201326&authtype=shib&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
 Young, Vershawn Ashanti. “Should Writers Use They Own English?” Writing about

Writing, by Elizabeth Wardle, Fourth ed., Bedford Books St. Martin's, 2020, pp. 325–334.

Douglas, Dan. “Nobody Seems to Speak English Here Today: Enhancing Assessment and

Training in Aviation English.” Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, vol. 2, no.

2, July 2014, pp. 1–12. EBSCOhost,

Appendix 1
Consent form for interview
Appendix 2

Interview Questions:

What kinds of miscommunication and human error did you encounter as a pilot?

Were there multiple events?

What led to the misunderstanding(s)?

Can you elaborate on the events themselves?

How do you think it could have been prevented?

Have you ever communicated with multilingual people while piloting?

What aspects of their communication did you find hard to understand?

What aspects made their meaning clear?

Do you know of any struggles they might have had understanding you?

What could have been done to clear this misunderstanding?

If they were taught differently about english could it have been prevented?

What could you have done to understand them more effectively?

Do you know of any events caused by the same misunderstanding?

Can you elaborate on those events?

Do you know of any misunderstandings that were not caused by the same causes as yours?

(perhaps by tone, message content, lack of knowledge, or accent)

What do you think the main flaw of using Aviation english universally is?

What ways could the aviation industry avoid this flaw?

CITI Certification

Appendix 4
Transcript of 1st Interview with Logan Johnson:

Interviewer: “Can you tell me about any kinds of events of miscommunication you came across”

Logan: “Yeah i've had a miscommunication at one point with ATC. Yeah I have a time when I
just got my private pilot's license and I only had about 60-70 hours flying and most of it was with
my instructor. So me and my buddy, I rented a small plane for the day and we were going to fly
down and get Lunch at Saint Pete so we flew down Tampa Executive. So it's kind of weird but I
didn't learn to talk to ATC very well anyway so we land I wanted to go get landed at STP we
ended up having lunch and on our way out I'm talking to ATC I'm telling around hey this is what
I want to do I want to take off head south towards the coast and then I'm going to hang a left into
the bay and then go back to Tampa anyways I as I'm taxing he tells me what taxi to take.And as
he's given me a clear for takeoff, he says make a right turn and you're cleared to take off. So as I
presumed it was, take a right turn and then I don't have to talk to him anymore. Basically. I was
going to lose touch with ATC at that point and then fly home and I could either pick up Tampa's
ATC if I wanted to or I could just lie to my airport because my airports are not controlled. I
don't have to talk to anybody to land there. so anyways, he says hang a right turn and then you're
clear for takeoff. So I hung a right turn onto the runway and then as I'm taking off, I don't know.
I must have missed it as I'm taking off. I take a right turn at about 250 300 maybe 400 feet and
I'm taking a right turn to actually turn back to Tampa and I think he might have, I must have
missed it. He must have given, given me a heading or told me to head towards the coast. But as
I'm taking my right turn, he calls me up and says hey man where The hell are you going and I
was like, well I'm taking my right turn and he said no, you know, I said something heading so
and so or head head east and I think I turned West or something and he said you're going to you
know, he was just a little upset about what happened and I was all upset about it. I said, you
know, what can I do? Because now I'm here and I was almost about 500 feet to do a thousand
feet from the trop clothesline, right? And as you as you cut the corner as I'm cutting across I
actually can see MacDill to my left. So I have a controlled Airport.And MacDill to my left and
he tells me you know for the regulations I'm fine. As long as I can fly away from his airport stay
below Mcdill's airspace and they keep flying. He told me I'd be fine if you have a good day. So
about 10 miles as I got about 10 miles from his airport at the correct altitude. He just told me to
have a good day and I went back to Tampa but it was kind of scary because I miss, I didn't
follow his directions. That's for sure.”

Interviewer: “All right. So just what do you think could have prevented it if like like on both
sides like not not just yourself but like for both you to clean up the misunderstanding?”

Logan: I don’t know I was probably a little more unqualified to fly and talk to ATC, but a lot of
my friends whenever they learn to fly they learn on a towered airport, meaning basically you
have to talk to someone else. At my airport it's non-towered and very uncontrolled and I talked to
pilots back and forth and I would say Hey I'm taking off runway 1-4 and then I would say I'm
going up wind or I'm going base or I'm going down land and then I'm coming in my hands and I
would just do that Berkeley. So I knew very well how to get in and out among control airports. I
didn't know very well how to get out of cold air ports and even fly the Lakeland still confuses me
some, it might have just been more or less that I should have been.I instructed or fucking I
should have known really I really shouldn't know I should have know not what was going on.
And I don't know if I ever got taught or if I just missed him. I was just wasn't used to the
situation. “

Interviewer: “Okay that's really helpful. There's a term interactional competence which I learned
while doing my research about this and basically say.so it's basically like a standard but it's not
it's not like more so used in like the us but it's like what they stand her eyes like English
capabilities for everyone around the world like so because Aviation English is like the aviation
like lingua Franca, so. Everyone has to speak it like whenever talking like the air traffic
controllers, but.”

Logan: “I deal with this a lot in maintenance, yeah to be able to read, speak, and understand
english and i have a lot of Good mechanics that are very close to not being able to do that. It's
just something I see every now and then I see it with Carlos too. We have a lot of Pilots that my
Aviation. I actually worked at an aviation school for about seven years to I maintain one. I was a
lead mechanic at an aviation school. We only like 15 airplanes and my whole job was to
maintain those airplanes as people who them every day, and we actually had a lot of Indian
students that could.Well as it's just say they had a strong accent. They they could they could
really get understand it. But when they started communicating back to me it was like whoa, and I
know the HTC had the same in the same issue with the bunch of young Pilots. I think it gets
better as it goes.”

Interviewer: “So what do you think would be more important? Like maybe like not being on to
understand them as easily as the air traffic controller or just no communication or like.”

Logan: “Definitely being able to understand them, it was very very convenient Convenient to be
very very well versed with ATC is not to be I was not. All right. I honestly every time I flew I
look for enough control airport to fly to. Which wasn't a big deal counter Venice?

Interviewer: “All right, so you think that people that want to become Pilots like they should like
have to learn how to talk with aircraft air traffic control for they get their license.”

Logan: “Yes I think technically you do I think per the regulations you have to have certain
amount of takeoff and landings at a controlled airport and you have to have like proof like
LASIK or the regulations that's that's definitely one of them where you have to be able to talk
back and forth to ATC but either when I when I took my private lesson I didn't talk to ATC at all
with that guy with my with my colleague DPE designated pilot examiner with My examiner he
didn't really talk to me about it and neither did my instructor I. he didn't really talk to me about it
and neither did my instructor I.”

Interviewer: “ so like it shouldn't just be that you have to fly at them. It should be something like
maybe it like talking to them should be part of ,like, your examination, right?”

Logan: “Yeah, probably. Yeah. Yeah, that would be probably better for a private pilot. All right.
Once you get any closer from a private pilot Start to do intimate or commercial you're going to
have to talk to them. Yeah, Private Pilot is the only thing where I can kind of get away with
turning my radios off across Florida, but if you're fine.Or anything like that you'll be talking to
him.

Interviewer: “All right so I know you said that you had some students it was like harder to
understand their communication, they talk about it like, like, what kind of aspects of that like I
know that's a hard question to answer but like. Like you said accents ”

Logan: “yes yes very strong accents and they and then I have a bunch of Spanish people from
Puerto Rico actually ton of people from Puerto Rico's is on the maintenance side mostly where
they had that hurricane come through and the Bahamas the Bahamas and had a bunch of people
come over here Aviation wise pilots and mechanics that have that just strong you know to
Jamaican type Of accent and.It just makes a difficult man leaning students my Spanish students.
It's it's a different thing. It's something that you know, some of them know five languages. Yeah,
it's weird. It's I don't really know how to answer that but aspect which is.I think the.The accent is
tough to give eye and then there's some words that they don't understand.

Interviewer: If you had to do something to fix this problem for people who don't speak english as
their first language.

Logan: Thats a good question, I don't think the FFA even really checks on people that can read
or speak english, that is more or less up to the CFII, that would be training the student, they don't
pay very well, I don't think CFIs are really looked at in the industry as respectable as they should
be I think the CFI position is a bigger deal than they are given credit for, but they have to sign
you off and they basically have to make the judgement call that you can talk and then they will
send you to DPE, designated pilot examiner, and then he has to make that judgement call,
especially if there is no regulation of ATC communication, If I would say anything I would think
that there should be an aptitude test or something to even be able to get qualification to take the
exams. In maintenance school we have aptitude test that everyone has to take on their way in,
and it's basically a kindergarten’s test where they have to do simple math, they have to read, and
understand english, and basically know what tools are, and shit like that, so its very very simple.
and I will still have students that will get by that are really tuff on the english language and the
same thing happens with the pilots. Where we are a money based, so if you can get by then we
will take your money and next thing you know they have 60-70 hours, and they are flying
airplanes, and things can get screwed up; and like I said the FFA doesn’t really regulate the
speaking english part very well.

Appendix 5

Transcript of Dave Rasler Interview:

Interviewer: “All right. So what kind of events have you been in where you had
miscommunication and it caused a problem for you.

Dave: “I mean it’s, The template. So here is and I was talking to Lisa about this the other day or
the threat is rather that's how we phrase that conflict is multiple things are usually happening at
once there. So you know you could be talking to a controller and then you know you're your
other co-pilot up there says something or there's an emergency warning or something like that
that you have to deal with and you know you get distracted so people kind of get tunnel vision
when there's there's problems sometimes just a lack of you know attention or focus on a broader
picture and getting down a rabbit hole of that makes sense.”

Interviewer: “Yeah so like whenever there's too much information and you're not paying
attention to all of it.”

Dave:”Yeah I mean which you know we're trying to kind of keep an eye out ,but so the kinds of
things that are I would say, common things that happen between like I would say. I mean you
can have miscommunication anywhere. I think what you're asking about is between pilots and air
traffic controllers. So I mean the most common types of things that happen and these happened
frequently we try. We do things to trap these errors. Of all kinds whether they be communication
or procedural or technique or anything like that. And there's, there's layers and so I just try to.
The most common kinds of errors that happen are between pilots and air traffic controllers. And
let's just say they'll give you multiple instructions so they'll say turn to a heading of one two zero
and climb to 15000 feet and then you'll read it back and they'll know you are not paying attention
because you might have to talk to the other guy or you weren't listening and you heard half of it
and you read back something it's like TURNED IT head at one hundred and climbed to five
thousand. You know so there's, there's errors like that that happen it's usually not both of them.
It'll be like somebody misses an altitude by a thousand feet or they'll read back the wrong
heading at the controllers is usually supposed to be listening to what you read back. So it's a
multi-step process. They tell you to do something you respond to that they're looking out their
screen to see that you're actually complying with that.And if you're not that they're going to and
they're also going to listen step before that is they're going to listen to what you read back to
them. So there's a multi-layer step process that's like would be the most common one, we would
call that a clearance problem. So that cleared you to a district certain heading or to navigate to a
certain fix or decline or descent desert altitude or to a certain approach in an airport. And you
read back something wrong. Another common one that can happen is when you go to big
airports that have runways in multiple directions. So the runways are organized by magnetic
heading.So 3 6 0 which would be like two doors that would actually be Runway 3 6. You leave
off the last. Digit. You could have multiple runway 3 6’s so you could have a 3 6 left which is on
the one side of the airport and that which would be on the west side of the airport at 3 6 right.
Which could be a whole other side of the airport if you're familiar with champ at all. You know
how they have like the terminal of the middle of that runways on either side of the terminal.
Yeah. So they could be upwards like 3 6 left and 3 6 right. And they read back you know cleared
for the ISLS approach frankly to reach six right at you for some reason read back 3 6 Left. And
If that's the last thing you hear and he doesn't correct it then you then you're going to be going to
the wrong runway and can cause trouble for everyone in the airport.

Interviewer: Have you ever flown with anyone who was foriegn and made it harder for you to
understand the ATC?

Dave: Yeah, totally. Colombia is really bad like that, and that is bogota colombia, its up at like
8,500 feet and its surrounded by 14,000 foot mountains, so there's a lot of really tricky
procedures to get in and out of there and when you come down you don't understand the
language and this is a really big thing, so when you're here in the states their talking to multiple
other airplanes, it could be 10 or 15 other airplanes and so you know the people that are kinda
around you and what their getting told to do or what not to do and you can hear all this stuff and
if somebody reports there's turbulence in a certain place you can hear that because you
understand the language and you can go Oh well that's along my route so I should watch out for
that. But when you're down in a forigen country like Colombia their speaking spanish and
english. And they are primarily speaking spanish and you're going down their and you're talking
to them and their talking to you and you can usually understand them most of the time and what
they are saying or at least figure out what they are saying with one question, but when you're
listening to all of the other talk in spanish if you don't understand it, you have a whole deficit of
information and big picture that you would have if you understood what they were saying to
other aircraft, but since their only talking in spanish to the spanish speaking pilots and english to
the english speaking pilots you lose that total situational awareness.

Interviewer: So when you are speaking to these foreigners what would you say is the main
struggle with the communication?

Dave: I would say usually its accent and just their unfamiliarity with the language, and in those
cases they try to stick to, ya know you and I would just say hey man whats up and that's just
slang or local stuff, but they just try to stick to know words and phrases that get the point across:
time, descend, turn. Now some of them are better than others cuba their kinda really bad and the
radios are really bad down there, but Colombia was other other spot that was really difficult
because you wanted to know what was going around you and what to expect and you lose that,
so it's due to accent for sure and its due to their unfamiliarity with the language.

Interviewer: Do you know anyways how the industry could avoid this kind of flaw with the
barrier of language in International travel.

Dave: I mean other than require, you're supposed to really, English is supposed to be the
universal language of aviation, its not well enforced in other countries, so of course this is our
language and its not their language, so I don't know what the industry itself could do other
besides try and somehow enforce that people stick to english.

Interviewer: I know that they test for the common phraseology that you mentioned earlier but
have you ever not been able to understand those basic words and that lead to problems?

Dave: Now I've never had it, ya know how it is, if somebody isn't understanding what you're
saying, ya know, you try and find another way to clarify so that is another thing.

Interviewer: Do you think there would be a way for English pilots to better understand them?

Dave: Yeah, I think it comes back just to common phraseology, and not trying to riff and don't
stray away from that, ya know, So I think it's just applying and finding the common standard and
trying to stick with that, so you have to use your own willpower to not try and stray into more
common language.

Interviewer:”There's a lot of different aspects of communication and speech, and if you had to
pick which is the most important in aviation or the main factor that causes human error?

Dave: “In aviation I mean it's hard to say that tone, I mean tone could be important, but the
content, I'm just talking through this, the content sometimes is probably, because sometimes
people again they will ask a question that they think is a clear question, but its not, and I can't
think of a clear example right now but you want to be specific and you want to be clear and
concise, and not overly verbose. Just standard I would call it.

Appendix 6

Transcript of Interview of Danielle and Mike:

Danielle: Well I would say with my job a lot of times the biggest miscommunication would be
more like pilots anticipating what I am going to say and filling in the blanks and its not exactly
what i'm saying or not at all what i'm saying. So I feel like sometimes i'm saying one thing to the
pilot and they’re repeating something completely different and it's just what they wanted to hear
or what they thought I was going to say.

Interviewer: So what do you think leads to this?

Danielle: I would say distraction is a big feature in it, and a lack of planning on their part.

Mike: Yeah definitely lack of planning and cockiness, attitude. Pilots are just a very type A
personality bunch and they kinda have their own idea on the way things should go so sometimes
they expect things and then they don't happen the way they expect them and they can get
confused and especially with radio communications to be able to hear and accurately read back
complex control instructions can be difficult as well,so anytime there's something said on the
radio that's the whole reason in aviation is redundant and everything is read back to make sure
that it is communicated correctly.

Interviewer: Do you think that message length has an effect on how it affects the pilots and
messages might benefit being shorter and more often?

Mike: Potentially, a lot of the communication over the radio is deliberately truncated already for
that specific purpose. You try and make any transmissions as quick and short as possible and
don't chatter or talk about anything else on the frequency?

Interviewer: Have you ever communicated with multilingual people or people who don't use
english as their first language.

Danielle: Yes

Mike: absolutely

Interviewer: Does that ever bring up any problems?

Danielle: Yes, that's very difficult, in our jobs a lot of times we are talking, especially when
pilots are in training there's a large populus pretty much everywhere all of the united states of
either asian trainees, and I think it's cheaper to learn how to fly here, but I know that on the end
of pilots understanding us pilots have difficulty understanding us and even as controllers
sometimes it's difficult to understand them. So i often will miss hear call signs for aircraft or
destinations and I will say back what i hear and they won't correct me, and it will go for a very
long time and im either calling them the wrong tail number or call sign or im telling them about
the wrong airport before they pick up on it or they say something that clues me in that i'm doing
it wrong.

Interviewer: What do you think could be done to clear up some of these misunderstandings that
are caused by people that don't speak english as their first language?

Danielle: Practice is gonna be the thing that helps the pilots so they do have to practice, but I feel
that there should be a little more accountability on flight schools end, because often times we are
talking to pilots that are flying with an instructor that speaks english, then the pilots are
soloing ,without that instructor, and their english is not up to par and unfortunately in aviation
the standard language is english, so if you can't communicate in english clearly and you're not
with someone who can communicate in english clearly, it's very difficult, so i think the flight
school should take more responsibility on whether or not a student is ready to communicate by
themselves.

Interviewer: What aspects of their speech while using english makes it hardest to communicate?

Mike: Accent and pronunciation mostly for us trying to understand them, and their overall
comprehension of the language for them being able to answer questions beyond a simple yes or
no question, as it can be really frustrating.

Interviewer: Besides people that don't speak english is there any other kinds of
miscommunications that occur between ATC and pilots where it is not just as simple as them
mishearing?

Danielle: Even if you're speaking the language clearly, I've had pilots tell me they are at one
airport when they're not. The other day i was giving a pilot a clearance from an airport he was
not at and it wasn't until i was talking to another controller and they said are you sure that is
where they're at because we have two flight plans and the guy was not at that airport and he
realized it as soon as i started talking to it again and he said were not there anymore and I think
some of it comes from distraction. What do you think about it.

Mike: Looking at it from a tech standpoint as opposed to a human factors standpoint the whole
concept of radio communication is only one person can talk at a time, and you listen to live atc or
any atc frequency and you're bound within an hour to hear people stepping on each other so
multiple people key up the mic at the same time and no one can hear anything. So that definitely
causes communication breakdowns. I actually heard about one where an airline pilot, his mic got
stuck, he wasn't doing it intentionally, there was a malfunction with the button itself, and he was
stuck on, as he was coming into the airport for like 15 minutes so all of the other traffic at that
airport got delayed and rerouted to get out of the airspace. But for the most part the aviation
industry has redundancies, but there are certainly things that can be improved.

Interviewer: So going back to people who don't have english as their first language you guys said
that the flight instructor themselves should be held more accountable and maybe require in their
flight exam that they speak to a control tower?

Mike: I don't think that on the flight instructors, but on the programs or the schools themselves to
not take students who can't speak. I mean it's in the regulations to be a pilot. You have to speak
and understand the english language. English is the international standard for aviation throughout
the entire world. Everyone does everything in english.

Danielle: If you are going to make a pilot do ground school and english is not their first
language, then they should do some sort of basic english class and even if they had one that was
geared toward aviation specifically. I think that could really help out those pilots.

Mike: They should at least hear the words that ATC is going to give them as instructions before
they jump in an airplane and try to follow those instructions.

Interviewer: So you think they should be required to meet a level of Interaction competency to
fly in the industry.

Danielle: Yes I know I used to work at this at an airport, and we had one of the main pilots for a
small airline. He used to come in and ask me about instructions that ATC had given him because
he didn't understand them or he didn't think that they were correct and some of them I told him
well this is what they mean or this is what they do, but some of them weren’t correct, and i felt
like sometimes he was taking advantage of because he had an and accent, and they kind of used
that to tell him instructions that weren't exactly clear or weren't exactly correct just to get him out
of the way faster.

Interviewer: So do you think there should be more of an effort on both sides to bridge the gap.

Danielle: yes there can definitely be improvement from both sides.

Interviewer: What do you think the main flaw in aviation english is that stands out the most
while flying?

Danielle: For me I feel like with what I deal with on a daily basis, and its delivering my part of
the job which is relaying clearances or briefing pilots on weather and TFRs that kind of things, I
see more often that pilots should listen better and the portion of their communication that could
be changed is either listening and not trying to rush an important communications thing

Mike: Yeah, I definitely agree with that, to have successful communications active listening is a
very important part of that, It doesn't matter how good the information is if the receiver is not
listening to it, it doesn't matter, but I think the accurate and timely delivery of that information is
just as important, so being able to clearly communicate and do it in the shortest amount of time
possible and then having the receiving person actively listening and utilizing that information
that is provided.

Appendix 7
Consent Forms for Interviews: