So you want to be an international airline pilot?
One of the biggest risks when you're an international airline pilot
is the potential language barrier.
Like being cleared to land on a runway
that there's already another plane on there.
But you don't know that because the controllers are speaking with them
in another language.
Air traffic control versus pilots.
Coming up!
Hey, 74 crew! Welcome back!
If you don't know me, my name's Kelsey.
I'm a 747 pilot.
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Now, the reason I mentioned earlier about being an international airline pilot
is because when I'm flying,
I'm flying to every continent
minus Antarctica,
but I would be willing to fly there if the opportunity presents itself,
but I'm flying to every continent.
And when you're going to these different countries,
the controllers will often speak, and this is not always the case,
but they will often speak to the pilots from that country in their native language
and they'll speak to us in English.
Every controller has to speak English.
It's the international language for aviation.
So they have to speak English with us.
But the problem is, if they're speaking in another language
with the people from that country,
we lose the overall situational awareness of what's going on around us.
So when I was new flying,
all I could focus on was the plane itself.
I didn't really have a good picture what was going on around me,
but you can imagine if you're a pilot,
you're holding short of a runway and then you hear something like this.
Confirm we're cleared for 05L, Volaris 799?
And if you don't speak Spanish,
you have no idea what that controller just told that person.
So there are countries that use their native language first
and then use English for everybody else.
There are some countries that use English for everybody.
And the one that comes to mind is Japan.
Japan speaks with their controllers and their pilots
are all speaking to each other in English, which I think is great.
It's a great example to allow me as a pilot that flies to Japan all the time,
I know what's going on with the other planes around me
because the controllers are speaking English with these Japanese pilots.
Now, obviously it would be easier for them, the pilots and the controllers
to speak to each other in Japanese.
It's their native language
but I would not have any idea what was going on with those planes.
So Japan is a really great example
of a way that makes it a very easy way
for everybody to be included in what's going on.
And so here's a typical interaction that you'll hear
if you're ever flying into Japan,
you can hear that they're speaking in English, but with a Japanese accent.
Narita tower Japan Air 740 good morning approaching COSMO
Japan Air 740 Narita tower runway 34L continue approach wind 320 at 7
You're going to understand why I'm talking about this language barrier in this video.
Costa Rica 4069, runway 5L, line up and wait
Line up and wait 5L, Costa Rica 4069
Confirm we're cleared for 05L, Volaris 799?
Volaris 799, correct, 5L wind 90 degrees 20 knots, cleared to land.
Cleared to land 5L, Volaris 799.
So I speak enough Spanish to understand what's going on here,
but take, for example, when I'm in China
and the controllers just speaking with the pilots there.
I have no idea what's going on.
So I have no situational awareness of what's happening.
This is where this is all taking place at Mexico city international airport.
But the area I want to focus on is right here.
Costa Rica 4069 gets told to line up and wait.
Listen here.
Costa Rica 4069, runway 5L, line up and wait
In my experience being told to line up and wait
is something I get told when there's a crossing or intersecting runway
and they want you on that runway
so that way as quickly as possible that
that traffic is clear from that crossing runway,
you are ready to go.
This is LaGuardia at New York and it's a perfect example.
It's an airport I used to fly in and out of all the time.
Not on the 747, of course.
But it's a perfect example
because what we would get told is to line up here on the runway 4.
Line up and wait
and a plane would land, let's say on runway 13.
And as soon as they pass this intersection here,
they can tell us that we're clear for takeoff.
So that's typically when you get told to line up and wait.
They want you on there, but there's something moving in front of you
and they're trying to keep things moving as efficient as possible.
But that's not what's happening here in Mexico city.
So we're zoomed in here on 5 left here in Mexico city.
You'll notice that part of the runway looks a little bit different on this chart
than the rest of the runway.
There's something called a displaced threshold.
And what that means is
that part of the runway can be used for takeoff,
but not be used for landing.
And that's what's going on on 5 left and 5 right in Mexico city.
You see right here on 5 right?
It has the exact same thing.
So when Costa Rica pulls onto 5 left,
they are approximately 1400 feet from the start of the threshold,
which is indicated by this marking right here.
Something else to remember is that airline pilots
are trained to land 1000 feet down past the threshold.
And when we cross the threshold of a runway,
we're planning to be about 50 feet above the threshold.
And as you watch this video,
it looks to be about the right height,
they're roughly about 60 feet over the other plane
when you look at it from this video.
So the Costa Rica plane got told to line up and wait.
And then the Volaris plane asked if they were cleared to land.
Probably because they saw something on the runway,
meaning the beacon or the strobe lights,
which are those flashing white lights that are on the planes.
Either they saw that or they were listening to the controller,
telling the other pilots to line up and wait on 5 left.
Listen here.
Confirm we're cleared for 05L, Volaris 799?
Now, typically the only time that pilots are going to ask and confirm
if they're cleared to land
typically is that one pilot heard it
and the other pilot didn't.
Now this is a rule that I want to pass to all of you
that ever decide to become airline pilots.
If the other person asks you,
Hey, did we get cleared to land?
Instead of you saying yes, absolutely.
It's better to just make that call to air traffic control and confirm it.
It alleviates any questions or any doubts.
It keeps the other person engaged because let's say you're a captain
and your first officer says,
Hey, are you sure we're cleared to land?
And you say, yeah, I'm sure.
Well, now that person is going to be disengaged from asking you
to confirm or make sure something is true.
So when you get asked,
Hey, are you sure we're cleared to land?
I've had captains ask me.
Obviously I'm a first officer.
I've had captain say,
Hey, are you sure about this?
And even though I'm 100% sure about that fact,
I don't say yes.
I just say,
oh, I'll just confirm it.
And then I just make that call and confirm
we're cleared to cross the runway?
We're cleared to land?
Whatever it is I make that call
and that way they know for sure.
And I've had them say to me,
wow, thanks so much.
Instead of me saying,
yeah, I'm sure we're able to do it.
I just confirm it.
And so there's never any doubts.
So when they're calling to confirm,
I don't think they're calling for that reason.
I think they're calling because they see something else on the runway.
And of course the controller says right here.
Cleared to land.
Now, I know I'm going into a lot of detail here,
but I'm curious if you caught the differences
of who cleared the plane to line up and wait,
and who cleared the plane to land.
Listen to the woman who cleared the pilot to line up and wait.
Costa Rica 4069, runway 5L, line up and wait
And then it's a man voice that confirms that Volaris is cleared to land.
Cleared to land.
So being a controller, I imagine,
is an extremely high stress job that you have to be extremely focused on
at all times.
When you're an airline pilot or a pilot in general,
you're really only hyper-focused in the takeoff
and the landing portion of the flight.
The rest of the middle you're...
It's really, there's not a lot going on.
So you're a little bit more unwound
and not that hyper focused of what's going on.
But a controller, especially one that's doing the tower,
he has to be very focused on what's going on
because you've got planes ahead of you,
planes behind you.
They've got a lot of things, so they're going to be hyper focused.
So it's common for there to be shift change
where they take a short break and then another controller comes in
and then they take another break and a different person comes in
because those people need to be very mentally focused of what's going on.
So now this was just what's going on on the 5 left.
There's a whole other thing that's going on on 5 right.
Listen to this.
Emirates 256 heavy, how much time do you need?
About 30 seconds to check the weather radar, Emirates 256 heavy.
Okay, Emirates 256 heavy, runway 5R, line up and wait
and call me back as soon as possible.
Line up and wait 5R, Emirates 256 heavy.
Mexico tower, Volaris 723, reaching MX901.
Volaris 723, good day, 5R, QNH 30.25, continue approach.
Continue approach, Volaris 723.
I split up of what was going on on 5 left and what was going on on 5 right.
Because there's a lot going on here.
I'm going to put it all together in a second for you.
But Emirates is asking, I think probably ahead of this,
I don't have the audio,
is they're saying something like,
Hey, we need to be on the runway for a few seconds so we can check the weather.
The weather radar on a plane is not going to shoot 90 degrees out from the left.
So Emirates is sitting short of the runway here with their radar on.
They're not going to be able to see anything that's going on
because the radar here only is going to shoot in this direction.
But once they line up on the runway,
the radar here will be pointing the direction that they want to go.
And it's going to take a few seconds for the radar to make that full sweep.
So they get a really good idea of the picture
of what they're going to be taking off into.
Now, it's pretty common when there's weather
or something that's in front of the airport there
that the pilots want to get on the runway for a few seconds
so they can see what's going on.
That radar is going to make two sweeps back.
They're going to have a really good idea of where the weather is
and they want to do that.
That's fine.
The controller's saying,
you can do that, but don't take too long
because I have another plane.
And the pilots understand what's going on with there being other planes landing.
But what they don't understand is what the Volaris plane is getting told.
So there's a Volaris plane landing on 5 left and one on 5 right.
But the controller speaking Spanish,
the one that's landing on both, but
for these Emirates pilots, unless they know and speak Spanish,
they don't know what that pilot that's landing on 5 right behind them
just got told.
They have no idea,
but this is what the controller is saying to them.
Volaris 723, good day, 5R, QNH 30.25, continue approach.
So that means that Volaris 723 is cleared to continue to the runway,
but they're not cleared to actually land.
A totally different clearance.
You're cleared to continue the approach and you're cleared to land,
not the same thing.
Now, Emirates is in the displaced threshold of this runway as well.
So hypothetically,
if the Volaris 723 were to come in and land
where they're supposed to land, they would miss the Emirates plane.
But you've seen on some of my other Viral debrief videos,
planes where they'd land short of the threshold.
And if they land short of the threshold in this case,
they're going to land right on top of an Emirates plane,
and that's going to be a big problem.
And so now that you understand what's going on with both runways,
I'm going to put it all together for you.
Costa Rica 4069, runway 5L, line up and wait
Line up and wait 5L, Costa Rica 4069
Volaris 799, good day, 5R, QNH 30.25, continue approach for 5L.
Continue approach 5L, Volaris 799.
Emirates 256 heavy, how much time do you need?
About 30 seconds to check the weather radar, Emirates 256 heavy.
Okay, Emirates 256 heavy, runway 5R, line up and wait
and call me back as soon as possible.
Line up and wait 5R, Emirates 256 heavy.
Mexico tower, Volaris 723, reaching MX901.
Volaris 723, good day, 5R, QNH 30.25, continue approach.
Continue approach, Volaris 723.
Confirm we're cleared for 06L, Volaris 799?
Volaris 799, correct, 5L wind 90 degrees 20 knots, cleared to land.
Cleared to land 5L, Volaris 799.
So you can hear just how much is going on for the controller.
You got a plane that's lined up on 5 left,
someone landing on 5 left.
You got Emirates lined up on 5 right.
A plane that's cleared to continue the approach onto 5 right.
And Emirates, unless they have someone on that flight deck that speaks Spanish,
they have no idea what's going on around them at all.
Now Emirates is an international airline.
They have pilots from all over the place.
So it's possible that there's someone there that speaks Spanish,
but it's possible that they don't.
And if you don't have someone that speaks Spanish,
they don't have any idea what's going on.
Now, it's just my 2 cents.
I think it would be smart for countries to adopt this thing that Japan did,
which was we're going to have everybody,
all of our controllers and all of our pilots,
everybody's going to speak English.
So everybody knows what's going on around them.
And I know that sounds very American to me.
Like I want everybody to speak my language,
but English is the natural or the official language of aviation.
I think it just makes sense for the overall situational awareness.
Especially when you're talking about international airports like this,
that people are speaking all in the same language,
so everybody knows what's going on around them.
So here's the final part of this video when people realize what is happening.
There's an aircraft on the runway 5L.
Tower, from Costa Rica 4069, we are on the runway.
Volaris 799 going around.
Correct, Volaris 799, thank you. 30 degrees to the left.
30 to the left, Volaris 799.
So you heard multiple pilots calling in at the very beginning.
They were saying,
Hey, there's somebody that's on 5 left.
There's an aircraft on the runway 5L.
And you had the Costa Rica pilot saying,
Hey, we're on 5 left right now.
Tower, from Costa Rica 4069, we are on the runway.
But had that been the Emirates cruise
and had they not had anybody that spoke Spanish,
they wouldn't have even known that that plane was coming in behind them.
So you can see how that could have been a problem.
So hats off to these Costa Rican pilots here for paying attention
and telling air traffic control that are on the runway
and hats off to these Volaris pilots here for initiating the go-around
before air traffic control even had a chance to tell them.
They realized what was going on and they initiated their go-around.
And this is really aviation at its finest.
Because even though you have a situation here
where the controllers messed up,
I mean messed up massively.
And you know, if you watch a lot of these air traffic control versus pilot videos,
I'm definitely more critical of the pilots making mistake than air traffic control.
But these controllers really did a massive mistake.
But even with that massive mistake that they made
to me it shows just how well aviation works
as far as for being safe.
Because there's so many examples of accidents that happened.
And it's a chain of incidents.
It's not just one thing that went wrong.
It's multiple things that happened.
And these pilots broke the chain.
You had the pilots in Costa Rica saying,
Hey, we're on the runway.
You had the Volaris pilots initiating a go-around
before they got told from air traffic control.
You had the other pilots that were on the ground saying,
Hey, there's people that are on the runway right now.
So they broke that chain from there being in...
being a possible accident.
Now, had they landed would it have been a problem?
No, because of the displaced threshold.
They wouldn't have went over the top of the other plane and landed
and it would've been fine,
but still, it just shows you an example of what could have been
had those pilots not broken the chain of telling the controllers,
Hey, there's somebody that's on the runway there.
So you can see here that the plane is actually deep enough.
Nobody would've been hurt because they're so far back from the threshold.
So now here is the audio from the pilot that recorded that
of what was going on.
And you can hear all the air traffic control talk that was going on
that you've heard it live.
Now you're hearing it kind of secondhand through the speakers of the plane,
but you can hear all that going on and you're going to hear this pilot say
"no mames", which is like no way in Spanish.
Watch this.
"No mames".
"No mames" indeed.
If you enjoyed this video,
you'll probably enjoy one of these two here.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Until then,
keep the blue side up.