18. Misunderstandings in Aviation Communication

The consequences of ineffective communication can be life-threatening and dramatic. Communication misunderstandings are often cited as the cause of paranormal events in aviation which could lead to accidents/incidents. As a result, the risk of lack of communication is relatively high. Many factors that directly or indirectly influence the rate of misunderstandings in communication, such as language barriers, non-standardized phraseology, ambiguous communication, regional differences, and premature communication, are the causes of communication errors in flight. The study focuses on distinguishing and emphasizing various perspectives of communication and making suggestions to operators to reduce misunderstandings in aviation communications. The study is based on a survey highlighting the important communication loads such as flight training, standard expressions, operator’s native language, and cultural background. The survey collected 110 responses from pilots and ATCOs, from various countries, with approximately 20% being ATCOs and 75% being pilots. Some suggestions concluded based on the results of this study are (i) improving aviation training by further focusing on radiotelephony communications and (ii) familiarizing and permanently updating standard used phraseology among operators.