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Old 12th August 2006 | 07:20
  #9 (permalink)  
bookworm
 
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,648
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From: UK
Originally Posted by Nogbad the Bad
Pilots should read back clearance correctly, especially at crucial positions like the holding point for an active runway.
I think you miss the point of readbacks. They're required because voice radio communication is imperfect. You have no idea what may have interfered with the radio communication. You have no idea what the pilot heard, and what other noises were going on in the cockpit at the time. To say that a pilot should read back clearances correctly is like saying that the air should be smooth. Occasionally, nature conspires to make that impossible.

niknak makes the point well. I'm not excusing sloppiness on the part of pilots, and I appreciate that it's annoying and disruptive when pilots deliberately or negligently fail to readback clearances accurately. But that does not affect the correct ATC response to an incorrect readback.
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