Flyzolo Team Update - Day 112
Zara is in #Vladivostok, #Russia. If all goes according to plan she will be ✈ flying on the 9th of December to #SouthKorea.

Meanwhile, thanks to FlightAware, we can share some #ATC radio-work 🎧 with you! This was Zara talking to the female Air Traffic Controller at Merrill Field Airport, #Anchorage, #Alaska. Obviously, in an English speaking country, the Air Traffic Controller will communicate in English, but what happens when you are flying in Russia, South-Korea, Malaysia or United Arab Emirates?

Well, pilots 👮‍♀️ and air traffic controllers 🛫 around the world must speak English to communicate (it's required by the International Civil Aviation Organization - ICAO) or the language used by the station on the ground. In practice, even when the native language for a region is sometimes used, English must be used upon request.

Not only do the pilot and ATC have to be able to use English, they also have to use a flight-related language with standard phraseology, a phonetic alphabet and a specific numerical system, which uses code words instead of the letters (A to Z) and numbers (zero to nine).

The reason for this is that it minimises confusion and reduces the risk of misunderstandings between air traffic controllers and pilots. They might have different native languages, or pronounce or understand words differently. So basically, for #safety reasons.

For example, you will have heard controllers say “bravo” instead of the letter “B,” “Charlie” instead of the letter “C,” and “niner” instead of the number “nine.” (Theories explaining the origin of the code word “niner” differ, but aircraft enthusiasts speculate that the extra syllable differentiates it from the German word for “no” i.e. "nein" or distinguishes it from the pronunciation of the number “five.”)

Air traffic controllers also have their own slang and, for instance, use the phrase “souls or people on board” to refer to the number of people on a plane.

Well, on this, Zara had quite a misunderstanding with an Air Traffic Controller in the #USA, who kept asking her how many POB - "people on board" she had in the Shark. Although she answered "1" - the whole point of her solo circumnavigation of the world 🌎, he kept misunderstanding and responding with "10 POB".

Would have been bit crowded in the Shark with 10 people on board 🤣✈🦈.

When was the last time you had a total communication failure with someone and what funny or not so funny things came out of that?

#Airttrafficcontrol #ATC #radio #communication #donotread
Shark.aero