Rhein ATC question
 

I have noticed flying over the years a lot of Rhein Radar ATC controllers in Germany seem to have Australian accents. Are they actually Aussies or do German ATC controllers train in Australia?

Or am I imagining it and do I need a new headset?

Mrs JC is something of a linguist, and a fluent German speaker. She points out there is some similarities between Australian and Dutch accents, which in turn is not a million miles from the German accent. Perhaps that’s what you are hearing?
It’s not something I’ve noticed myself, but the last time I said ‘Rhein, gutten abend, ….’ I was a bit depressed with the cheery reply ‘…., Gutten morgen!’ as I realised it was way past midnight and we were only just at South-East Germany with the whole of Germany, Holland, and most of the UK to go.

Please thank Mrs JC for her input! I’m going to ask them next time I check in with a ‘Rhein Guten Morgen / Abend’ and will report back.

Hi skydriver,

yes indeed, we do have a couple of Australiens or controllers working down under before.
they came as ready entries, qualified for their sector group and now they work for Rhein Radar.
i guess we have about 10-15 controllers who formerly worked in Australia.

I've never been mistaken for a local in Oz with my Dutch accent... :8​​​​​​

I believe there are quite a few Ozzy controllers who came to Germany in the 00's and 10's, so they might also be with Rhein Radar.

(Ah, I missed the last reply before mine)

Had the pleasure once in a previous airline where captains had the authority to do so to have one of the OZ ATCOs on the jumpseat from FRA to TXL. Was quite informative for me about the non german speaking crowd in DFS and of course about ATC procedures as well as the bad implementation of CPDLC. Sadly in another airline now and we can’t take ATCOs on the jumpseat anymore.

Thanks for your replies guys! That explains something I’ve been wondering for ages.