As a loanee to a local airline (737-800 -guess) my experiences of Dubai ATC is generally disappointing.Coming from the UK where we don't get much right these days -ATC being an honourable exception -my experiences at the hands of the local controllers has not been comparable.
To the Dubai approach controller who berated us last Saturday may I inform you of the following.A long day for us,this was the fourth sector.The second inbound to DXB involved a go -around due debris on the runway.The subsequent go -around uneventful except for seemingly random heading and speed changes culminating in an arrival 20 mins later.The fourth sector on return from Kuwait involved 45 mins holding @ Desdi.The term EAT is misleading as Desdi is a long way from touchdown.Due to local experience I persuaded the new captain that I was training to carry extra fuel and this proved to be beneficial as we neared Dubai.However when we eventually left the hold we then experienced some more haphazard vectoring plus cleared for the approach.The instruction given from approximately 14 miles was 180 to 10 plus 160 to 4 -standard stuff.It then became apparent that we were closing to 3 miles behind an exec jet- himself 6 miles behind a heavy.
There was no alternative but to slow down ourselves for reasons I will explain.My co-captain from the sub -continent was not a native English speaker plus unfamiliar with local procedure -I was the handling pilot btw.The approach controller then told us that we should inform him before we slow down and despite the volume of traffic felt compelled to add that 'you are not the only aircraft in the sky' plus some sarcastic remark referenced to 'doing his job'.What I could have said is that if we hadn't slowed down we would have gone around for the second time -1 hour 30 into discretion and that the next call would be 'mayday' due low fuel.My advice:do not use non -standard and conversational language over an ATC frequency.While I appreciate the workload at DXB is significant at times we also have issues and challenges courtesy of what passes for a system.I was going to put in an ASR but really couldn't be bothered as we had already submitted one from the earlier go -around (plus discretion and training reports).I obtained the DXB ATC standards officer tel number from our safety dept but no reply so far.Be professional guys despite the stressors.