How Poor English Skills Have Caused Plane Crashes
Most of the time, if you make a mistake speaking English, you might be a bit embarrassed, but nothing bad will happen. However, that isn't the case for pilots and airline crews, with good communication sometimes being the difference between life and death.
Here are two of the worst plane crashes caused by poor communication before English language requirements for airline crews were standardized in 2001.
Charkhi Dadri Mid-Air Collision
On November 12, 1996, a Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747 collided with a Kazakhstan Airlines IL-76 in the air above Charkhi Dadri, India. According to the Air Traffic Controllers Guild, the crash was caused by a misunderstanding between the crew of the Kazakh plane and air traffic control.
The Kazakh co-pilot thought they had been told to fly at 14,000 feet, but they had actually been warned not to because the Saudi Arabian plane was flying at that altitude.
The planes collided, killing all 349 people on both planes. It was the world's deadliest mid-air collision.
The Tenerife Airport Disaster
On March 27, 1977, two planes collided on the runway at Los Rodeos Airport, now called Tenerife Airport.
A terrorist incident at a nearby airport caused a number of flights to be redirected to Los Rodeos Airport, where visibility was poor due to fog.
The native languages of the crews involved were Dutch on one plane, English on the other, and Spanish in the control tower. The crews had difficulties understanding each other in English because of their accents, and they were confused by the vague language used when asking for permission to take off.
The planes, which were unable to see each other in the fog, collided when one plane tried to take off, wrongly thinking it had permission to do so. The resulting fires killed 583 people, with only 61 surviving, making it the deadliest airline accident in history.
Questions
1. What are your thoughts on the accidents featured in the article?
2. Are you afraid of flying? Do you know someone who is?
3. What would you say was your worst flying experience?
4. Do you remember your first time on a plane?
5. Do you expect air travel to become safer over the next 50 years?
1. Is having good English skills important in your line of work?
2. Why did you decide to learn English?
3. What English accent do you find easiest to understand?
4. Do you think English will ever be replaced as the global language?
5. Learn a language, and you'll avoid a war. — Arab Proverb. What do you make of this quote?
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More Informations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Charkhi_Dadri_mid-air_collision
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_airport_disaster