Airbatic
Heathrow has the lighting because it helps pilots...... which in turn helps the ATCOs and ATSAs. The Lighting Panel Operator can still screw up though!!
No one is jumping to cover up UK shortfalls - Pprune Radra was giving one explanation of why it might have happened. However it seems that this is not the case as from your posts one can assume that you were following evrything that was going on at the airport at the time, and had 100% spatial awareness... not that common in pilots when they have other things on their minds.
This thread has degenerated somewhat - first it was a post with a genuine concern for one persons perceived worries about Spanish ATC, based on their experiences around the world. Then it descended into a bun fight about use of several languages on RT.
If you read the posts carefully, you will find that the only people who are tryin to say that use of several languages on an R/T circuit is not a bad idea, is the very ones who do it!! That to my mind speaks volumes about the quality of the ATCOS/pilots involved.
Andrinjder,
I was merely pointing out that you may have misinterpreted what was being said - no reason to get in a strop about it. The English language is one of the most peculiar when it comes to nuance and double meanings of phrases etc. To a non native English speaker, this can sometime be confusing - hell the Yanks don't even understand 'British' English all the time!
As for Pprune Radar trying to claim it was not an incident and that it could not happen in Britain, he was merely pointing out another expalanation as to what could have been occuring - however we now know that Airbatic was 100% fully up to speed with the traffic situation and all the calls that were happening at the time... no mean feat for a pilot who has other things to do, but very commendable.
The answers we got from some of the members of Spanish ATC regarding the use of multiple languages on the R/T were downright scary and dangerous. If they and others cannot see how this practice can only increase the chances of an incident, they are in the wrong job. Hell if the EGMC controller had started speaking in a different language, the chances are that Airbatic would not have managed to keep a full and therefore safe menatl picture