AN ATR42 FO'S RPT ON THE COMPLEXITIES OF UNDERSTANDING ATC CLRNC AND THE ATC DELIVERY TECHNIQUES USED FOR ACR ACFT AT GUADELOUPE; TFFR; FO.
Synopsis
AN ATR42 FO'S RPT ON THE COMPLEXITIES OF UNDERSTANDING ATC CLRNC AND THE ATC DELIVERY TECHNIQUES USED FOR ACR ACFT AT GUADELOUPE; TFFR; FO.
Narrative
AFTER BEING ASKED TO 'BACKTRACK QUICKLY;' THE TWR PASSED AN ATC CLRNC THAT WAS NOTHING MORE THAN 'CLB TO 2600 FT; SQUAWK XX.' AFTER CONFIRMING THESE NUMBERS; I ASKED FOR A RTE CLRNC; 'RAIZET CONFIRM CLRED L TURN DIRECT GORET; AS FILED; CLB 2600 FT; SQUAWK XX.' WE HEARD A REPLY TO THE EFFECT OF '...DIRECT GORET; 2600 FT.' IT SEEMED THAT HE HAD BEGUN HIS XMISSION BEFORE MINE WAS COMPLETE. HE ALSO EMPHASIZED THE 2600 FT; SEEMING TO MISS THE POINT OF MY QUESTION SO I ASKED AGAIN; 'CONFIRM L TURN DIRECT GORET;' AND RECEIVED '...DIRECT GORET.' NOTE THAT OUR CARRIER IS NEVER ASSIGNED THE PUBLISHED SID. ON 8 DEPS IN THE LAST 3 WKS I HAD TURNED L AT ACCELERATION ALT (400 FT AGL) WITHOUT OBJECTION BY ATC. AT THE END OF THE RWY; WE WERE CLRED FOR TKOF WITHOUT ANY DEP RESTRS. WE READ BACK THAT WE WERE CLRED FOR TKOF AND THE ABSENCE OF ANY HEADING ASSIGNMENT IN OUR READBACK WAS NOT CORRECTED. WE TOOK OFF AND TURNED AT OUR ACCELERATION ALT AS WE UNDERSTOOD OUR CLRNC TO BE. TWR DID NOT OBJECT TO OUR TURN AND SWITCHED US TO DEP CTL AS WE PASSED ABOUT 2000 FT MSL. THE APCH CTLR TOLD US THAT TWR HAD INSTRUCTED US TO MAINTAIN RWY HEADING AND THAT WE HAD NOT BEEN CLRED TO TURN ON COURSE. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS: 1) GUADELOUPE CTLRS HABITUALLY GIVE INCOMPLETE CLRNCS; OMITTING RTE; CLRNC LIMIT; DEP FREQ; ETC. ONLY A 'UNDERSTAND...' READBACK GETS THE FULL STORY. EVEN THEN; THEY WON'T ASSIGN A ROUTING IF THEY WANT YOU ON A VECTOR INITIALLY. 2) COM DIFFICULTIES IN LANGUAGE; TERMINOLOGY AND ATC TECHNIQUE. ON THIS DAY; THE NATIVE FRENCH-SPEAKING CTLRS REPLIED BEFORE OUR XMISSIONS ARE COMPLETE AND MISUNDERSTOOD OUR RPT OF PASSING FL160 FOR FL180 AS 'LEVEL FL160.' 3) HURRIED TAXI; DOING TAXI CHKS; DEP/TKOF BRIEF; AND FLT INST CHKS WHILE EXPEDITING AN ALREADY SHORT TAXI DID NOTHING TO EASE THE COMS WITH LCL CTL. 4) FAILURE OF ATC TO UTILIZE PUBLISHED DEPS WHICH WOULD HAVE ELIMINATED ALL CONFUSION. (SIDE NOTE: AN ACFT HAD PASSED THE RWY FROM S TO N WHILE WE BACK TRACKED. WE DO NOT BELIEVE THERE WAS A CONFLICT WITH THIS ACFT SINCE OUR TCASII DID NOT PROVIDE A WARNING. THIS ACFT MAY HAVE BEEN THE REASON THAT APCH WANTED US ON RWY HEADING.) RECOMMENDATIONS: 1) ATC GIVE COMPLETE CLRNCS UTILIZING PUBLISHED PROCS. 2) FLC REQUEST SAME. 3) FLC TAKE THINGS ONE AT A TIME; IE; SEPARATE TASKS (COPYING CLRNC; TAXI CHKS; TKOF BRIEF; ETC) VICE DOING IT ALL AT ONCE.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.