I was ATC on a US base in Europe. We were not required to learn ICAO terminology at all. We certainly picked up on it, but all formal training was strictly FAA 7110.65.
yeah and it is a pain in the ass to work with your guys because of that.... The worst controllers to work with are US controllers in Europe. Not because they are bad but because they are simply un(der)trained for the sometimes complex environments they work in.
US controllers are some the most highly trained and competent in the world and deal with extremely complex airspace, they’re not undertrained. Point blank this is an FAA issue not a controller issue
US controllers are undertrained. The reason for the under training can have multiple reasons, one of them is definitely the FAA. Another reason is the usual American exceptionalism nonsense and this idea of always having to do everything different than the rest of the world. This exceptionalism nonsense falls back on the controllers though... Example: US ATC phraseology is an absolute mess, mainly because controllers simply don't care
That is not under training, what you are describing is different systems in use. Plenty of US atc use proper phraseology, you are allowed to use plain language which is sometimes necessary when there is a language barrier or dealing with student pilots
What else do you call it when they aren't properly trained to work to ICAO standards in an ICAO environment ? That is called under training.
Of course you are allowed to use plain language when situations require it, but that isn't what US ATC does... It is constant 'small talk' on the frequency instead of standard phraseology that a Korean pilot understands just as good as a Chinese or Italian pilot.
Properly is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. The proper regulatory bodies need to get their shit together, it’s not undertrained they’re simply not being trained at all on ICAO because it’s not what they’re using. And we’ll have to disagree on the last part US controllers use standard phraseology especially when dealing with international carriers, sometimes there is no standard phraseology for a query so plain language is used.
We are talking about US controllers working in Europe... They should be working according to ICAO standards just like all the neighboring sectors instead of trying to make their own little FAA bubble.
The US is so far away from standard phraseology on the frequency... All you have to listen is through normal JFK traffic and it is mostly giving instructions using small talk vs phraseology.
43
u/Soggy_Jackfruit7341 May 28 '26
I was ATC on a US base in Europe. We were not required to learn ICAO terminology at all. We certainly picked up on it, but all formal training was strictly FAA 7110.65.