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An Analysis of En Route Controller-Pilot Voice Communications

File Language:
English


Details

  • Creators:
    Cardosi, K. M.
  • Corporate Creators:
    John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.)
  • Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Publication/ Report Number:
  • Resource Type:
    Tech Report
  • Geographical Coverage:
    United States
  • Edition:
    Final Report
  • Corporate Publisher:
    United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Aviation Administration
  • Abstract:
    The purposes of this analysis were to examine current pilot-controller communication practices in the en route

    environment. Forty-eight hours of voice tapes from eight different Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCCs) were

    examined. There were 5,032 controller-to-pilot transmissions and 3,576 clearances (e.g., instructions to maneuver or

    change radio frequencies, routing changes, etc.) In this sample.

    The complexity of the clearances (I.e., the number of pieces of information) was examined and the number of erroneous

    readbacks and pilot requests for repeats were analyzed as a function of clearance complexity. Pilot acknowledgements

    were also analyzed; the numbers of full and partial readbacks, and acknowledgements only (i.e., "roger") were tallied.

    Fewer than one percent of the clearances resulted in communications errors. Among the error factors examined were:

    complexity of the clearance, type of acknowledgement, use of call sign In the acknowledgement, type of information in

    error, and whether or not the controller responded to the readback error. Instances in which the controller contacted

    the aircraft with one call sign and the pilot acknowledged the transmission with another call sign were also examined.

    The report concludes with recommendations to further reduce the probability of communication problems.

  • Format:
    PDF
  • Funding:
    FA3L1/A3021
  • Collection(s):
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha-512:38a5f335b98a83d2e0bb4e6c38b4c1d17aa500dfe31e75cafb13a57b0f5953b16458673cc335116d4e31586d4a240243448d32f6597272f07a7df8ab5f8bbfa5
  • Download URL:
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 1.30 MB ]
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