/FedEx gets mad at LAX tower, then AA 777 goes around

[jay2712]

Was taxiing out to take off at LAX when I saw the Air France 380 (Super) depart followed shortly thereafter by a AA 777 climbing left out of the area. Thought it was a go around and searched the archives when I got to my destination, and found it. Bonus was, Just prior to the go around, a Fed Ex is told to land and then later asked if they were clear to land and a short tiff ensues. Both are near the beginning of clip, like 0105 zulu. sorry I was not able to edit it, but they are close together. First post, so I hope it works!

[SirIsaac726]

It wouldn't kill that controller to take a few milliseconds longer to enunciate. First time he said it I heard it. Second time, I had to go back and listen again to hear the actual words "cleared to land." He slurs the words together and I can see how a pilot might miss that. That said, everyone else heard him fine.

[oktalist]

Edited, tried to highlight the "cleared to land" (or is it "cland"?)

[jjbiv]

The controller has a fairly heavy accent and needs to enunciate his words more precisely or speak slower (may not be possible at LAX). Certainly the reply to the FedEx pilot was less than professional given the circumstances and serious nature of the inquiry. The FedEx pilot also should have paused a moment before responding in haste. Does the FAA have an English pronunciation test for controllers?

[GeoffSM1]

The controller has a fairly heavy accent and needs to enunciate his words more precisely or speak slower (may not be possible at LAX). Certainly the reply to the FedEx pilot was less than professional given the circumstances and serious nature of the inquiry. The FedEx pilot also should have paused a moment before responding in haste. Does the FAA have an English pronunciation test for controllers?

I thought it might be interesting to go one step further with the editing and trim out all but the comms between the FedEx and the Controller. This audio file is the result. I have also extracted the 3 'cland' and put them in twice at the end of the file. The  three 'cland'  last for little more than 1 second each time! I suggest this could be rather concerning when the Controller is conversing with pilots who are not using their mother tongue - especially when, as in this case, the Controller has quite a heavy accent.

[SirIsaac726]

Certainly the reply to the FedEx pilot was less than professional given the circumstances and serious nature of the inquiry. The FedEx pilot also should have paused a moment before responding in haste. Does the FAA have an English pronunciation test for controllers?

The reply he gave was fine; in his mind (and he actually did, albeit not clearly) state cleared to land each time he communicated with Fedex. The Fedex pilot responded that they never heard it so the tower controller did as he should (somewhat) and slowed down the transmission and repeat it. Even then he has an "accent" when he says it that seems to slur the words together that might not be clear, especially to foreign pilots.

Keep in mind, he did say it in a similar fashion to multiple other pilots and they heard it seemingly fine. This really isn't a big deal and just something one might say, "this guy should probably enunciate the words better." Bet he never expected people online editing recordings of him to break down exactly how he says "cleared to land."

To answer your question, no, there is no English pronunciation test.

[oktalist]

I listened for 20 minutes prior to the transmissions in question and all the other landing clearances were better enunciated than the ones for FDX3745, so I don't think it's fair on the Fedex pilots to say that other pilots heard their clearances when those were better enunciated; on the other hand it shows that it was an isolated occurrence. When you listen to the "cleared to land" in isolation you can kind of hear it, but when it's embedded in the middle of all the usual wind and traffic information and spoken with less emphasis than the rest it kind of disappears.

I don't mean to make a big deal of it. I'm just some guy on the internet. It's driven by general curiosity about enunciation and busy frequencies, coming from the UK where there seems to be more emphasis on speaking clearly and using standard phraseology. On the other hand, our ATC have less to say as they don't bother issuing wake turbulence cautions or traffic information concerning safely separated aircraft.

[klkm]

I'll give you the second one was not 100% clear, on the "cleared to land" but not much else follows all that other verbiage.  The first one was clear and responded to.  I wouldn't say either party was "mad" just a little frustration on the controllers part for repeating for a third time. 

[GeoffSM1]

In preparing the further audio clip I'm attaching here my intention was not to extend the discussion about the controller's enunciation of 'cleared to land' but rather to isolate the 'go around' section of the original clip with a view to identifying what circumstances necessitated the go around. To that end, this clip follows the aircraft to Departure. But this does not help explain the situation. Does anyone on here have any idea(s) on what occurred please?
Coincidentally I've noticed that the pilot of the AA 777 involved in the go around failed to hear the controller's 'cleared to land' instruction issued at 13.5 secs. The only way you can be sure that it was given is the controller's emphasis on the word 'is' in his reponse to the pilot when asked for confirmation.

[oktalist]

Presumably it was the departing Air France A380 still rolling down the runway which prompted the controller to issue the go-around to the AA 777 with a left turn "soon as able" to keep them apart. AAL was on a 2.5 mile final when AFR was cleared for takeoff. That was also the interpretation of the eyewitness in the first post, and it's corroborated by the controller's comment when AAL checks in for the second time, "we're not departing anybody in front of you."

Nicely caught low altitude alert for Spirit Wings also.

[GeoffSM1]

Thanks for that oktalist, confirming what I thought must be the case. Perhaps the Air France was bit slow rolling because there presumably wouldn't have been much scope for delay with an aircraft on a 2.5 mile final.

[sonnycol]

Landing is a critical clearance. Just as "position and hold" was dropped in favor of "line up and wait", presumably to eliminate confusion with "cleared to go", it would help if controllers were told to drop "cland" and "clidland" and required to enunciate all three words... "clear(ed) to land", emphasis on the "to". Problem solved, with no need for a debris cleanup and NTSB investigation.

Many other controllers already enunciate the "to" in landing clearances. Good practice.

[VASAviation]

In preparing the further audio clip I'm attaching here my intention was not to extend the discussion about the controller's enunciation of 'cleared to land' but rather to isolate the 'go around' section of the original clip with a view to identifying what circumstances necessitated the go around. To that end, this clip follows the aircraft to Departure. But this does not help explain the situation. Does anyone on here have any idea(s) on what occurred please?
Coincidentally I've noticed that the pilot of the AA 777 involved in the go around failed to hear the controller's 'cleared to land' instruction issued at 13.5 secs. The only way you can be sure that it was given is the controller's emphasis on the word 'is' in his reponse to the pilot when asked for confirmation.

What is said at the end of this clip?

Thank you for what??

[GeoffSM1]

I think the pilot says 'thanks for getting us down that time.' Or something close to that.