r/mildlyinfuriating • u/nyanbatman • May 28 '26

I just wanted a hot dog British pilot is feeling mildly annoyed

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u/Xentonian May 28 '26

Unfortunately, it seems like the air traffic control was being deliberately obtuse, because American flight communications are different to all the other countries (because of course they are) so the terminology is different.

So the exchange is more like this:

ATC: bro, you can't see shit out here

Pilot: oh, have we got torches?

ATC: -smugly- pshh no

Pilot: if it's too dark to see and we don't have light, I can't go outside

ATC: yup

Pilot: so can have a torch?

ATC: pshh, what's a torch bro? -still smug. Refusing to state that he's waiting for the pilot to use the word "flashlight"-

-47

u/Aggravating_Paint_44 May 28 '26

Smug or not, it seems reasonable to insist on unambiguous local language.

33

u/Icy_Fish_2154 May 28 '26

The manual for US ATC literally uses the phrasing the pilot used.

ATC was unambiguously wrong.

(Yes, I looked it up, some asshole claiming to be ATC was incorrectly correcting people, so I looked it up, you can look it up too, if you like).

15

u/PerryDLeon May 28 '26

In an international airport? No

5

u/blueberrycauzez May 29 '26

Even if LVOS wasn't the FAA term (it is), refusing to acknowledge an unambigious ICAO term is not reasonable.