Calls of the Wild: Pilot Stories about Communications Going Wrong

By Stephen Pradarelli

While doing touch-and-goes at an uncontrolled airport a couple years ago, I heard a young pilot announce on the radio that he was coming in for a “touchdown.” 

Didn’t say which direction he was approaching from, how far out from the airport he was, his altitude, or anything else that might have been remotely helpful to those of us in the pattern. 

As for declaring his intentions to come in for a “touchdown,” I could only conclude he was flying the Space Shuttle on a long final or had football on the brain. In any case, my head was on a swivel and I didn’t let out my breath fully until I caught sight of him weaving his way into the left downwind for Runway 25. 

Sometimes pilot communications—and miscommunications—can be mildly amusing or annoying. Other times, they can be deadly.

Climbing to colder temperatures would halt the accumulation, but the ice crystals already on the aircraft would create more static electricity than the aircraft’s static wicks could dissipate. Not only did this lead to the luminous, blue-violet plasma discharge called St. Elmo’s fire dancing across his aircraft’s windshield and propeller tips; it also knocked out his radio’s reception.

Tenerife Tragedy

On March 27, 1977, two Boeing 747 passenger jets collided on the runway at Los Rodeos Airport on the Spanish island of Tenerife. KLM Flight 4805 initiated its takeoff run, colliding with the starboard side of Pan Am Flight 1736, which was still on the runway. The collision and fire resulted in 583 fatalities, making it the deadliest accident in aviation history. 

There were several factors. For one, Los Rodeos was incredibly busy as a number of aircraft had been diverted there after a bomb explosion at Gran Canaria Airport. Because of the congestion, parked planes blocked Los Rodeos’ only taxiway, requiring operating aircraft to taxi on the runway. There was also fog. 

Ultimately, though, aviation investigators blamed poor communications, including the use of nonstandard phraseology among the Dutch and U.S. flight crews and Spanish controllers. For instance, when talking to the tower, the KLM co-pilot said “We are now at takeoff,” which the tower took to mean “holding” for takeoff, to which the controller replied, “OK, stand by for takeoff. I will call you.”

The Pan Am flight crew, still taxiing down the runway, heard KLM’s call and tried to alert the tower and Pam Am pilots but transmitted during the tower’s “OK” to KLM, stepping on the signal and creating a squeal that prevented KLM from receiving the warning in time to take evasive action.

For this article, I reached out to other pilots to hear their anecdotes about communications miscues, equipment issues, and advice borne out of those experiences. While none of the situations resulted in a threat to life or property, they offer lessons pilots all can benefit from. 

Tongue-Tied Trainees and Technical Troubles

Jeffrey L. Jorgenson is a CFI in Pella, Iowa, founder of an aviation magazine for young people called AviNation, and an “aviation ambassador” who promotes STEM and aviation. 

Jorgenson said he once flew with a private pilot student who, while learning to talk to ATC, kept saying “10-4” instead of “roger” or “affirmative.” 

“They didn’t correct him or miss a beat, but he and I had a conversation about proper phraseology,” Jorgenson said. 

A commercial pilot who goes by achilles828 in the Reddit flying community said “pull power” can sound like “full power”—a good reminder that rhyming is great for poetry but bad for piloting. 

Mitch Sellers, a CFII, Cirrus Standardized Instructor Pilot, and owner of MS Flight Training, LLC in Ankeny, Iowa, offers two bits of advice based on his own experiences with aviation communications. 

The first, he says, is: Trust But Verify.

“I've had a lingering issue with my COMM2 radio,” Sellers says. “No failures on my side, no failures to receive, but I sound like the teacher from Peanuts when I'm using the radio.”

The problem, he says, is that other pilots are often too polite to call out a fellow aviator when something doesn’t sound right. “Something as simple as another pilot transmitting, ‘aircraft calling, unreadable,’ would have been helpful," he says. 

Now he does a periodic radio check “so that I’m not the guy flying in blind, which could make for a real snafu,” something he advises especially for pilots who use COMM1 and COMM2 for various operations but don’t have regular two-way communications on both channels. 

Sellers’ second bit of advice: Know Your Lost Comms Procedures, including the tools available in the cockpit for if (or when) comms goes sideways. 

“I go all over the U.S. with our plane, always talking to ATC and spend quite a bit of time in actual IFR conditions, and things happen,” he says. “Radios fail, ATC forgets about you, you get too far away from their receiver, ATC sectors can have communication issues, etc. — all things I've seen in actual flight.”

Knowing what to do when things don’t go according to plan is critical. He offers three specific examples:

• Flying IFR or with flight following and haven't heard from ATC in a while, and the frequency is quiet, or you only hear other aircraft but never ATC's response? “Reach out with a simple call for a radio check,” Sellers says. “If they respond, great! If they don't, it's time to start using the tools in your aircraft to find alternative frequencies.” Unsure how to find those tools (for instance, Foreflight) in your airplane? Get with a CFI and talk about the resources available in your aircraft.

• Getting static, unable to communicate, and in IFR?  “Know the regulations, review the FARs for the expectations of how you are to continue, and execute those steps,” Sellers says. “It doesn’t have to be an emergency. But by following the regulations, you will meet ATC expectations, making everyone safer. If you are not aware of those procedures, this is another great time to get with a flight instructor.”

• Flying cross-country? “Monitor guard (121.5) to maintain situational awareness,” he says. “FDC NOTAM 4/4386 requires pilots, if capable, to monitor guard at all times.  This helps others, and may help you if you miss a handoff, as it is a consistent place that ATC will come looking for you.”

Lightshows and Lost Radios

Janesville, Wisconsin pilot Jon Zarinnia, who holds an ATP rating and flies out of ORD, used to fly freight in Cessnas and Barons, and while his examples of comms gone wrong may not have much application to pilots today, they’re interesting nonetheless. 

For one thing, Zarinnia says, he would often lose the radios in clouds where icing was a factor.  As it climbed, the aircraft would create more static electricity than its static wicks could dissipate. Not only did this lead to a luminous, purple and blue plasma discharge called St. Elmo’s fire dancing across his aircraft’s windshield and propeller tips; it messed with his radio’s reception. 

“It looked pretty cool, actually,” he says of the light show. “I'd have five minutes of static that sounded like somebody perpetually opening the zipper door on a low-quality tent. Then, just like that, it'd be over. You'd be on top of the clouds and keep motoring along with the night's trip.”

In another instance, Zarinnia says one plane he used to fly had poorly grounded radios that would interfere with a magnetometer, causing his HSI (Horizontal Situation Indicator) to turn 20 degrees. 

“When I'd release the PTT (push to talk) switch, it would come back on heading,” he says. 

The issue got fixed, but then one of Zarinnia’s landing light switches would do the same thing.  Landing light on: heading would change 20 degrees. Landing light off: heading would return to normal.

“It wasn't so long ago, but there aren't so many piston freighters flying around in the night anymore,” Zarinnia says of his experiences. “The planes that are out there are slightly larger, slightly better equipped, and probably don't encounter the same type of things in exactly the same way.”

The Debrief: Everything at a pilot’s disposal to fly safely and communicate clearly is subject to breaking once in a while, from radios to concentration. As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Spending downtime brushing up on regulations and the Pilot Operating Handbook, chair flying, running through emergency checklists, and testing equipment regularly are your best bets against letting a misstep turn into a mishap—or worse. 

Would you like to be interviewed for the Left Seat? Here are some upcoming opportunities. Email Stephen at spradarelli@gmail.com, along with a little information about yourself, if you’re willing to be included in one of these articles:

Tower Talk 101: What Controllers Wish Pilots Would Stop Doing: This one is for the people working day and night to keep pilots and passengers safe in the air and on the ground. We want to hear from ATC staff (current or retired) about pilot communication habits they’ve experienced that make their jobs more challenging, the skies less safe, or that are simply annoying. 

Why Staying Sharp on the Mic Is Part of Staying Current and Proficient: For some people, currency training focuses on solid takeoffs and landings, emergency procedures, and navigation. But effective—and confident—communication skills are just as important to ensuring safe and successful flights. What modules of the Plane English ARSim have you found are especially helpful to keep on top of your communications game? 

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