No Problems here either
They fly a lot, they're good at it, and they know what the plane can do and not do. I help them whenever I can and they do the same....never a murmur or a query to any instruction.....likewise the Shamrocks have been my long time No 1 professionals for many years.....must be an Irish thing!
Wish I had a sky full....they knock spots off the long haul prima donnas we have to deal with....."do you mean now or at our discretion?" brigade.
Work it out for yourself.....a Heavy on a 12 hour flight where the one landing is fought over......or 12 one-hour sectors in the dense European melting pot......?
Controllers and pilots get to know one another by voice, certain tones and inflections convey the understanding to each......it is not always book perfect in every case but we sure move a heck of a lot of traffic with little short-cuts like that. [ If I thought he/she didn't understand, I would insist on the "book" response....but which book....the UK R/T has 174 differences from standard ICAO.....and different UK airports have even more variations from those variations]