How Do Airline Pilots Never Miss Atc Instructions?

[Guest xstevex]

Like Rich said, controller speed is a probably the biggest cause for missing an instruction. Especially in a busy area like JFK departure and approach at 5pm. They talk fast and they expect you to listen up. They do not like repeating themselves more than once and they will let you know "XXXX would you like that in smoke signals? One more time and listen up... S L O W TUHHHHH ONE EIGHT ZEEEEEROOO" :(

[Guest richmd11]

yep you hear lots of that flying in newyorks airspace lol. imagine moving a four ship of dc10s through their space with non-standard spacing during rush hour lol. that was hard work lol.

[Guest Mike_n_ike]

I think there are quite a few errors-the terrible Tenerife crash was caused by a misinterpretation by one of the crew thinking they were cleared to takeoff when they were not is probably the most famous example.In my world of GA there are errors all the time-generally they are caught with the repeat process by either the controller or the pilot . I've had atc give me instructions that were in error and in that case I question them. You can't just blindly follow their instructions-some of them if I had would have got me in a dangerous situation.

I've had this experience too, and maybe at one of the worst times!I was doing my first solo flight in a little Grumman AA-1A and I was on the downwind leg. I was informed that a Gulfstream was on final for the same runway I was using by the tower, and that I needed to report him in sight. I could not see the traffic, so i reported no joy. I'm just about at the point where i usually turn base, so the tower tells me, ok turn base now and you'll land in front of the traffic. I turned base and in front of me on a short final was the Gulfstream. I quickly turned back to downwind and after that tower said it was his mistake. All that on my first solo pattern, and I often wonder what would have happened if the Gulfstream hadn't been right in front of me and I hadn't seen him.

[Guest xstevex]

I've had this experience too, and maybe at one of the worst times!I was doing my first solo flight in a little Grumman AA-1A and I was on the downwind leg. I was informed that a Gulfstream was on final for the same runway I was using by the tower, and that I needed to report him in sight. I could not see the traffic, so i reported no joy. I'm just about at the point where i usually turn base, so the tower tells me, ok turn base now and you'll land in front of the traffic. I turned base and in front of me on a short final was the Gulfstream. I quickly turned back to downwind and after that tower said it was his mistake. All that on my first solo pattern, and I often wonder what would have happened if the Gulfstream hadn't been right in front of me and I hadn't seen him.

That is a pretty intense mistake for ATC to make. I would have ripped the guy a new one. I dont care if there are only 3 planes in the pattern or a dozen. They are trained to take the nessesary steps to ensure the safety of ALL aircraft under ALL circumstances. For crap sake, I would think he would have been on high alert status for a student solo. Sorry to hear the story. On the plus side at least you learned a very valuable lesson and trusted your own instincts to turn and burn. The pilot instinct is far more superior than someone staring at blips on a screen. God bless TCAS :(

[AlaskanFlyboy 7]

That is a pretty intense mistake for ATC to make. I would have ripped the guy a new one. I dont care if there are only 3 planes in the pattern or a dozen. They are trained to take the nessesary steps to ensure the safety of ALL aircraft under ALL circumstances. For crap sake, I would think he would have been on high alert status for a student solo. Sorry to hear the story. On the plus side at least you learned a very valuable lesson and trusted your own instincts to turn and burn. The pilot instinct is far more superior than someone staring at blips on a screen. God bless TCAS :(

Occasionally you have your moments. Though uncontrolled fields with ag pilots are generally the worst for that sort of stuff. They fly without radios and use the "he who is fastest and lowest has right of way" rule to their advantage. I don't know how many times I've come into KPUW set in on final only to catch a glimpse of yellow hugging the ground at full throttle. There are days I wish they had a radio so I could cuss them out while I'm aborting my landing.

[FlightLevel180 0]

Just to add to the comments here, Im no real world pilot either, but the same thing about blocking out other callsigns become old hat after some time in the cockpit. You just get used to hearing your callsign and somehow dont listen as intently until you hear it. I have flown several times in the real world with friends, and even then I got used to it. A friend of mine who has thousands and thousands of hours under his belt flying for the USAF, USCG, and privately, will sometimes sleep during his long flight legs because he wakes up to his callsign. Personally, I believe this is dangers and complacent, but as Mike T mentioned, it happens! Instructions get missed too, but it's usually caught thankfully.

[Guest xstevex]

Imagine having to change your callsign to "Northwest In Delta Colors" after countless years using "Northwest". Not only will this be a cluster**** for the pilots but ATC as well. I dont know which braniac came up with this callsign. I understand it is only in affect until DAL gets the one carrier liscense agreement out of the way. However I feel there were other options they could have considered.

[btacon 1,790]

Just to add to the comments here, Im no real world pilot either, but the same thing about blocking out other callsigns become old hat after some time in the cockpit. You just get used to hearing your callsign and somehow dont listen as intently until you hear it. I have flown several times in the real world with friends, and even then I got used to it. A friend of mine who has thousands and thousands of hours under his belt flying for the USAF, USCG, and privately, will sometimes sleep during his long flight legs because he wakes up to his callsign. Personally, I believe this is dangers and complacent, but as Mike T mentioned, it happens! Instructions get missed too, but it's usually caught thankfully.

Sleeping "On the Job" does go on, but is never acceptable, from a controler or pilot perspective.This is an example of the limits of human tolerance to work stress and demands. Another good reason to remember that the folks "up front" and "on the the ground" are humans and are subject to human frailities and weaknesses.bt