My experience of the various ATC units around Europe over the last 15 years or so is that the further north you go, the better and more helpful they get. While I agree that the Dutch are amongst the better controllers, they have their moments - five changes of runway on our way in to AMS because of lack of co-ordination between controllers is a case in point, as was the time they cleared a 737 onto an ice covered taxiway that had no grip at all, so the fire crews couldn't even stand up after said ac slid into a lighting rig. But that is unusual for them. The Scandinavians seem excellent. British controllers make mistakes, and you do have to pay attention, but I find their mistakes far fewer than anywhere else. The Irish are interesting because they have a lot of non-standard and archaic practices (such as only giving departure clearances once you're lined up and not using stop bars in good weather), and DUB seem particularly adept at creating a false sense of security, seeming far more capable than they actually are. The Greeks and Italians have some issues, but are generally workable if you learn to understand their accents, but Europe's worst are without a shadow of doubt the Spanish controllers; while there are some helpful and very competent controllers down there, there is a huge proportion of seemingly belligerent and incompetent controllers way beyond the levels experienced anywhere else in the EU. I have suffered BCN area control walking away from their console when lots of ac were asking for weather avoidance. That just wouldn't happen elsewhere.
None are perfect, of course, but no pilots are perfect either. There are some differences in phraseology, some which is annoying, and the UK has much of the minor stuff - adding "degrees" to headings that end in a "0" is to differentiate between levels and headings, but is not used elsewhere yet. Clearances on to the LOC and then GS are to stop pilots descending before being on the LOC, as otherwise does happen. I don't see the need for reading back "hectopascals" when the QNH is below 1000 - 950 is not going to be a headings, speed or level, after all, so some of it is a bit ill-conceived and very pedantic, but at least it's clear. The comments by LEMG and our Icelandic friend are emotional, not factual.
Last edited by smileandwaveboys; 20th Nov 2012 at 09:26.