"STOP, STOP STOP!!" Recent FAA Air Traffic Control Errors Reviewed.

As a retired long haul pilot I cannot believe that one person does not OWN a runway. Two controllers controlling one runway is a recipe for disaster. The ‘super smooth’ clipped speech is another safety hazard. Say it clear and say it once!

Thanks for the shoutout and analysis as always, Juan

The pilot’s union needs to get involved here. Make some noise until these ATC training issues are sorted out, you all have some power here to save lives.

I love hearing a pilot asking ATC for a phone number to call.

As an international pilot who flew into the USA out of Hong Kong for 18 years, and out of Canada for 10 years, I can tell you that the USA is viewed as some of the best approach controllers, but the ground and tower controllers are viewed as larger threats than most other countries. This is due to clipped speech which leaves a lot of room for confusion. I brief it heavily and will not move a wheel until we are completely clear on what the instructions are.

With all these near misses, the US is one foggy day away from a historically catastrophic airplane accident

Years ago I was a DC-10 F/O flying out of SEATAC. This memorable date was a rare, hot blue sky summer day in Seattle. We were loaded to the gills with a full passenger and freight load and a full bag of fuel for the 10+ hour flight to Narita Tokyo. It would be a max gross takeoff weight departure requiring a very long takeoff roll. We got off the gate on time and taxied south for a northerly departure on the right runway. For some reason SEATAC was doing simultaneous departures and arrivals on the right. We held short for a United heavy jet on final and cleared to land. Shortly after United passed above us and touched down, the tower cleared us for takeoff. The captain pushed the power up and because he knew we had a long roll ahead of us, he kept the power up and the heavily loaded DC-10's momentum going as he finished the 90° turn to allign us with the runway centerline, and we laboriously started to accelerate very slowly down that two mile strip of concrete. I looked down the runway as the second officer jockied the throttles a bit to make sure we had all the N¹ we would need to get the beast safely into the air. "Power Set". Suddenly I noticed that United had not cleared the runway yet as we started to pick up speed. For some unknown reason he had started noticeably dawdling his ground rollout approaching his 90° taxiway turnoff intersection, but to me it still looked like he would clear in plenty of time. As he made the turn he inexplicably stopped, only halfway off the runway! At our 100 knot callout, there he was, not moving! As we accelerated towards V¹, United started creeping forward again, but still had not cleared the runway completely. As we lifted off with a couple thousand feet or so of runway left and the captain called "Positive rate, gear up" I looked down at United as we passed him watching his tail finally clear the runway. The tower controller never said anything after he cleared us for takeoff. If my captain had noticed the situation developing, he never mentioned it. All the way to Tokyo, I kept wondering if I should have called a low speed reject when I noticed that the United heavy jet was still on his landing rollout ahead of us, but although I clearly saw something I didn't like, in my experience I was sure that he would soon clear, so I didn't say anything. But at the 100K callout, well down the runway, I had started to have serious doubts. Did I fail to call for a reject then because in the back of my mind I was concerned about the nuisance of very hot brakes, a cooldown period, fuse plugs melting, a new fuel topoff, a disgruntled captain, paperwork, a call from the chief pilot's office....? Maybe. I've questioned myself about it a lot in the intervening thirty years. Yes, the controller screwed up by assuming that United would have cleared downfield in plenty of time based upon having seen the same situation maybe thousands of times before? Why did the United captain uncharacteristically "dawdle" getting off the runway? Flying fighters and attack jets for decades I had learned in BFM training safety briefs that to prevent midairs "remain predictable". Fancy ad hoc stick and rudder maneuvers in a rolling scissors might yield bragging rights in the debrief or at the bar, but their unpredictability can run jets together. So, United did something unpredictable, the controller jumped the gun, and I failed to have the courage to call for a marginal, rejected takeoff dangerously close to V¹. We all dodged the bullet that day at SEATAC, the holes in the Swiss cheese thankfully didn't line up, but I recount the incident here as food for thought to my fellow aviators who are facing a growing ATC crisis out there today. Stay safe, mon amis, stay safe!

I’ve been retired for nearly five years now - so glad I’m not flying any more. We’re going to have another Teniriffe at this rate! It’s starting to look like “WHEN” rather than “IF”. Having flown all around the world, I never liked the competition amongst American ATC as to how fast they could talk. It’s not necessary, it’s not safe, and it’s NOT professional.

That SwissAir pilot was extremely professional and took the high road regarding his comments about traffic on the runway!

Retired ATC about 9 years ago. Could see this coming back then.

Victor is doing important work. Everyone needs to support him.

I'm an Australian, I hold a GA licence and I used to use a radio professionally. I am amazed at how difficult it is to understand a lot of US controllers with their non standard abbreviations and speed of delivery. It seems to me, that the east coast is worse at this than other places. As a user below says "say it clear and say it once".

As a railroader, having multiple controllers operate the same real estate is crazy to me.

Retired captain here. This has gotten out of hand. Things are falling apart in America's aviation.

To me the most troubling point is nobody in the DCA tower appears to take ownership of the mistake and/or apologized to the pilots.

I am a 69 year old retired airline captain with 54 years and over 30K hours. I have watched the US airline industry sink into a very disorganized mess. Airlines hiring pilots and awarding captain bids within a year. Very low experience level for entire cockpit. ATC with similar issues. Add in a record number of aircraft flying and ohh yeah, BOEING. Needless to say, I do not fly. No way. With reduced visibility at JFK, it would have been a horrific accident with hundreds of dead. Hundreds of dead. Stop the insanity. All aircraft using a runway must always be on the same frequency! This must stop.

As a retired long haul pilot, I have flown over most of the world. I can assure you that U.S. Tower/Ground Controllers are the fastest talking controllers in the world which leads to missed calls, miss understood calls, and general confusion. Controllers need to just slow down. Just as many movements will happen because there are a lot of repeated clearances and miss understandings. Controllers cannot sardine more aircraft operations +into a poorly designed or outdated airport.

There are ALWAYS loud and raucous conversations and laughter in the DCA tower cab. It’s on the frequency every day. I have no idea how anyone can work in that environment.

Ex-London controller here. Great review of events and considerations here, good job. You lot really need to calm down the complexity of your operations, especially when it comes to airport layouts. Stop trying to be heroes and standardise/systemise things. We did away with most cross-runways yonks ago in the UK (especially Heathrow) and make do with 2 parallels (aprons in middle, minimal crossing), or even 1 for Gatwick (and I bet they shift considerably more there than DCA…). Take a look at Munich’s layout operation. It’s a dream, and incredibly simple/standardised. Take a leaf from their book and stop trying to be heroes

Being used to strict and precise german ATC two things across the pond still confuses me: - two controllers responsible for one runway (in Germany you always have a handover to tower for crossing an active runway - so one person, one runway) - receiving landing clearance before the runway is yours, sometimes even two or three aircraft on approach are already cleared to land (In GER the runway is all yours when cleared to land) With safety standards being the highest in aviation I still don't get why no one is seeing those issues as a serious hazard... 😵‍💫