Originally Posted by
BrATCO
I hope they will !
Not for political or Jacobin reasons : for safety reasons.
There is that too, of course, but even without that consideration the Spaniards would never go for an English-only service.
Look at what happened in CDG after that runway incursion incident (one of the recommendations coming out of the BEA was to make CDG English-only, which was agreed by AF and the DSNA--or its predecessor, don't know if it existed back then--and most others. One of the minority ATCO unions, the kind that are always throwing sticks into the spokes for no good reason, kicked up a stink along with some ultraconservative deputies at the AN, the rightist press got into it... rest is history until the next accident happens)
Or you would have to include in the martial law that Spanish pilots who fly only in Spain and don't speak technical English will be grounded.
Just a correction: there is no martial law in force in Spain at the moment. Nor has ever been since the restoration of democracy, whatever the childish propaganda from the local unions may try to imply.
Haven't you read any of the threads about multiple languages on the frenquency ? Would you fly in a single manned airspace where the CONTROLLER wouldn't understand the situation ?
No, of course not, but at least in theory you could make certain airfields/frequencies EN only, just like we have FR-only airfields in France, or better yet, sort of like the situation in Germany; make upper airspace EN-only, no VFR there and I
think (but might very well be wrong) that English level 4 is required for an IR rating. Confirmation in one sense or another would be welcome, btw.
I emphasise, you are right to say that safety would be an important consideration... but that's beyond the politicians concern and understanding.
Not talking about normal situation. Sometimes, VFRs get lost...
Agreed.