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Old 19th May 2013, 05:09
  #146 (permalink)  
yankeefly
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: The Colonies
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Cool My Defense of Yanks



I think that the "get in line" sort of negativity about yanks has a multi-faceted origin and we deserve some of it, or at least I do.

The lingo/slang/CAP14 case is valid. So is our adoption of slang domestically. When I was trained, it wasn't stressed. Period. I grew up in that world. When I came to the other world, it was blatant and a problem. I still work on improving myself and expressing myself more clearly and conveying sometimes complex requests and requirements to non-native English speakers. I try to improve my standard phraseology.

When I was a young turboprop FO, a Captain I flew with taught me a few things about precise readbacks of ground clearances/take-off clearances, etc. I taught the same lessons to my FO's in turn.

A few months ago I was #2 for takeoff in the USA as augmenter FO. An AMR MD-80 was cleared for takeoff by the controller and the takeoff clearance readback was literally, "Cleared to go." I was horrified, embarrassed, and disappointed. The controller let it go. If I was his Captain or FO (I don't know which of them was the guilty one), I wouldn't have.

Then when it was it was our turn, my European FO pilot monitoring read back our takeoff clearance and didn't mention a runway number. Ugh.

At the end of the day, we all have strengths and weaknesses. We all bring things to the cockpit.

Maybe even I have brought someting good to the cockpit along with some bad. Then again, I am a Yank.

Now, for those that really hate the USA, hmm, stay away ;-) We have over 300 million people that don't hate the place, and many more that might like to join us.

We aren't perfect. We have done many bad things along with many good. I think the argument could be made that the USA has made some positive contributions to humanity. I hope we learn from the bad and mistakes and help move humanity forward.

Besides, the days of manned cockpits are numbered anyways

Yankeefly

Last edited by yankeefly; 19th May 2013 at 11:03.
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