Guess you dont get my humor...

I was hired not because I'm black or a silly little "minority" but because I was well qualified and was thought to be able to pass training. Have you ever thought that getting hired at an airline has about as much to do with your personality/life outlook/outside activities as it does your flight time and checkride pass rate?

Guess I need to back down on my dark humor a bit here...

 

Wow, you guys are crazy. There is absolutely nothing racist or ignorant about noticing bad english on the radio. I guess I am the racist for not being able to understand poor, broken English on the radio.

 

Classic exchange between a Japanese UPT student and a T-38 IP

YouTube - Turn the heat OFF!

 

That clip reminds me of a time I flew with a Japanese pilot from his base in Nytabaru to my base at Iwakuni. As we started talking to Iwakuni approach - this Japanese pilot was having a very hard time understanding the American controllers instructions and at one point started to turn the wrong way until I chimed in. It was finally resolved when a Japanese controller controller came on freq and gave a quick burst of instructions in Japanese and then all was smooth from 10 miles out and lined up with the runway.

Second point was a recent flight with my squadron's new Spanish exchange pilot. He was riding backseat on a maintenance check flight. These can invilve quite a bit of time on the ground going through a lot of checks. He had already hooked up to O2 and was on *hot mike* for the entore time. Twice I asked him to go "cold mike" and his reply was much like this student's in the video - " Yes - cold mike" but then never changed the switch position!

Well....all I know is that both did much better than I would ever do in their shoes since I hardly know a word of Japanese or Spanish!

USMCFLYR

 

WOW... turn the heat O F F... go cold!!! what?

 

If your FO isn't English proficient then he or she should be removed from the aircraft and sent home.

You could restrict their flying until they have more time to practice their English on the radio. Once they become truly proficient, then you could allow them some bounces.

 

I'd consider the above to proper if the FO is unable to understand and or comprehend what's been said. If being cleared position and hold, and they read back cleared for take off, because they can't understand the difference, fair enough.

But ontop of all that, there would be a true safety concern (in my eyes) that would need to be addressed. And it wouldn't just be "my leg", it'd be "no leg", and a call to the Professional Standards, a Flight Manager, or the Chief Pilot. if someone can't get the simple radio call correct, i'm sure they wouldn't be much help when you chuck an engine, or have another emergency that you have to deal with, which requires two competent crewmembers.

 

HAHA...I use to listen to that type of thing just up the road at RJTA (Atsugi). The controllers were being trained so it was fun! I remember the Japanese P-3 squadrons trying to pick up their IFR clearances...pretty long. After about the 5th incorrect read back the controller would say it in Japanese and then the P-3 would reply "Rodger". So much fun!!!